I'm a visual artist that just stumbled onto your board. Hope you'll pardon me just dropping in. Visual Artists just formed an opposition coalition to help fight this bill
www.owoh.org. I hope that everybody is writing to object - there are links on this site. Several of the members just went to Washington DC last week to speak on our behalf, and they say that the speed that this is being pushed thru is scary.
Google and Microsoft - AOL and Yahoo are just a few Co.s that are pushing to get this passed. They are already waiting for us to give up -
http://info.yahoo.com/pri.../yahoo/acquiredcompanies/Google is estimated to be selling over 22 billion (B) in ads already. When they offer up IP as "FREE" ORPHANED CONTENT, they will be raking in even more. Microsoft is working with Pic scout already - just one of the 'DATABASES' already vieing for the business of providing the searches...which mean "we" the artists and musicians, writers and the infringers will be supporting that endeavor. Whoever does the 'REASONABLE SEARCHES" that will be needed to "Orphan" the
art/music will probably have a nice outlet to turn around and sell them for their own profit as well IMHO. Good luck suing Google or Yahoo is what I figure - I know I'd never have the money or time to even think about it. Since the reasonable search would have to be "DISPROVEN", you'd be out money, just to try and litigate. They want us to 'WORK IT OUT' with the infringer. What if you've already sold the rights to a legitimate buyer?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft who owns ZUNE (
http://blog.wired.com/mus...7/04/microsoft_hints.html) wants to buy Yahoo - who incidently owns Flikr.com -
(
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/microsoft_yahoo)
and they (microsoft) are already working with Picscout
(
http://www.cgi-java.com/article.cfm/id/256275) and they, MS, hired Jule Sigall who was the man that wrote the ORPHAN WORKS REPORT while he worked for the COPYRIGHT OFFICE.
(
http://research.yale.edu/..._Sigall&printable=yes (Tech Law Journal's owner Mr.Carney wrote, "The primary author of the report, Jule Sigall, subsequently went to work for Microsoft. See, story titled "Jule Sigall Joins Microsoft" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,510, December 27, 2006.")
Then Google has problems with MS, because MS has issues with how Google deals with copyright issues...or maybe because of competition over ads (Google is way out front) - part of the reason everyone is fighting over the images in my opinion...we all search the net, they throw the ads in on the side and that's how they make their money - not to mention what they'll make off registration and searches as well. "Companies that create no content of their own, and make money solely on the backs of other people's content, are raking in billions through advertising revenue and IPOs. Google takes the position that everything may be freely copied unless the copyright owner notifies Google and tells it to stop. " That sounds familar....
http://news.softpedia.com...-Infringement-48665.shtml & (
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24543408/page/3/ )
Google is hooked up with Getty and AOL (Shawn Bentley went from the US gov. to work for time warner - owner of AOL - as VP of IP and Global Public Policy after he worked in the senate and "helped write are among the most important laws in the intellectual property world: the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act; the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the American Inventors Protection Act, the Patent Fee Integrity and Innovation Protection Act, the Anti-Counterfeiting Consumer Protection Act, and the Trademark Dilution Act, just to name a few.”
http://thebloodofpatriots.com/rag/?p=25Then there's apple fixing to jump into the mix?(
http://www.siliconvalleyw...008/04/is_apple_about.php)
http://www.nytimes.com/20...html?_r=1&oref=sloginhttp://www.techlawjournal...stories/2008/20080507.aspSorry for going on so. Hope we can get it squashed again.
Valorie
Forums