bob catchpole wrote: > Rob Myers wrote: > > > Registration only affects damages where copyright is infringed. > > So if someone uses your work without permission and you haven't > registered you're not entitled to damages. ONLY in the States.
It is possible to register afterwards and claim damages on the basis of that but I believe this has issues. > Why not > come into line with the rest of the world? Automatic possession of copyright *is* in line with the rest of the world. > Just get rid of the need (and > expense, $30 a time) to register. You can register copyrights in the UK. Establishing the date of publication can be useful. > Currently many working photographers in America are compelled to do the > same as Seth Resnick: "Every image that I shoot is registered before it > ever leaves my office." To us outside the States this seems ludicrous - > time-consuming, expensive and a perversion of an automatic universal > right. And in the Land of the Free!... > > > The purpose behind the “visual registries” provisions is to help > artists keep > > ownership information associated with their works... > > To help artists? Artists are automatically owners of their work. Nowhere > else do they need to register the fact. Artists receive copyright on completion of the work in the US the same as everywhere else, and this copyright allows them to prevent other people from copying their work (and thereby profiting from it) the same as everywhere else. Orphan works *are* a genuine problem for society that need tackling, even if the current bill is not perfect. The bill can be improved, and Public Knowledge have suggestions for this. The bill is not pro-corporate. Currently only big corporations can afford the risk of publishing old work with unknown copyright status. Damages could wipe out an individual or a smaller organization. The Orphan Works bill ensures that everyone still pays damages, but that they do so fairly. The registry system is optional and is designed to build on services like DACS (I forget the US equivalent) that enforce copyrights and fees under the current system. Most professional artists and designers already belong to such a scheme. - Rob. _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
