Congress voting on bill to take away copyright protection
Sorry to post political issues here, but this is very, very important to not only the stamp companies, but you as artists as well. The following information was passed on to me by another stamp manufacturer.
Powerful internet companies are trying to push a bill through congress (H.R. 5889, The Orphan Works Act of 200 which will protect them from finding and displaying ("reprinting" ) images.
Unfortunately the way this bill changes copyright law will have a profound impact on artists, designers, even family photos will be up for grabs! Any image found anywhere without a copyright attached will essentially become part of the public domain. This will severely impact many small business, hobby artists, and more. Possibly even forcing many out of business. I mean, afterall some people out there would get the images for free rather than paying for them. . . .
If you have registered the image and have the money and time to sue you might be able to collect royalties (most likely less than your lawyer fees). But without registering you will have no rights and even with registering you will have a much harder time protecting your copyrights.
The bill is in congress this week and I am asking you email your Senators and Representatives against its passage.
The process is simple just go the website link below and scroll down to the "Take Action" section. There you will find emails that have been prewritten for you. Change the email or leave it as is. Enter your city and state and the site will send your emails to your Senators and Representative.
Our only power is in our numbers.
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/
P.S. Feel free to forward this to anyone you think can help.
aimless55303 started this discussion 5 months ago. ( )