News on the Orphan Works Bill
This is an update of a topic touched on in an earlier Obsidian Stock blog entry: Congress To Consider Softer Version of Orphan Works Bill
After months of debate and negotiation, a bill on orphan works has been introduced in Congress. Photography groups continue to oppose the bill, but say it is not as bad as they feared.
The Orphan Works Act of 2006 (H.R. 5439) is based on a recommendation from the U.S. Copyright Office, which photography groups decried as a dangerous erosion of copyright law. But the bill also makes some concessions to rights owners, including delaying the effective date of the law until 2008 and ordering the Copyright Office to put more information online to help people find copyright holders.
The bill was introduced Tuesday by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and will be reviewed Wednesday at a meeting of the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, which Smith chairs.
The bill (the text of which was posted on the web site of the American Society of Media Photographers) gives no special consideration to visual works. It does, however, direct the Copyright Office spend a year studying copyright small claims and report back to Congress. Photo groups have been pushing for an easier and less expensive way of settling small copyright disputes, which now are handled by federal district courts.