Retailers & Artists Work to Protect Hand Made American Craft 

1. This bill will allow anyone to use your designs and artwork for any purpose- without the copyright holder’s knowledge or permission - if they are unable to find the copyright holder after a still-to-be-defined "reasonably diligent search."

2. The bill will allow an infringer to create-and copyright-a derivative work even if the copyright holder of the original work objects.

3. The bill requires that creators digitize all their intellectual property at their own expense and hand it over to privately owned commercial databases in an effort to protect it. Unregistered work will be exposed to infringement by any party in the US for any reason.

4. The bill "limits" any effective penalties for infringement, which currently help creators protect their copyrights. This means wherever an infringer successfully asserts an orphan works defense, the copyright holder will not be able to recoup court costs and legal fees, nor will they receive statutory damages.

5. The bill will effectively strip every citizen of the passive copyright protection we now enjoy because they will nullify the creator’s exclusive right of copyright to any form of intellectual property. This right is currently ensured to every citizen upon creation whether or not the work is ever registered with the Copyright Office.

Dear _________________:

I'm extremely concerned about the devastating consequences of pending bill H.R. 5889 - The Orphan Works Act of 2008. It will undermine the entire Art world and current copyright protections. Unfortunately, as currently written, the Act will have a devastating economic impact on artists and will put many of us out of business.

One of the great incentives NOT to infringe on an artist's copyright, is that currently there is a stiff penalty - up to $150,000 for each instance that infringement is proven. The proposed Orphan Works bill, however, removes the penalty for infringement, which will make it easy for unscrupulous companies to infringe on my copyright and receive nothing more than a "hand-slap" as punishment. Under the Orphan Works acts of 2008, I would only be entitled to "reasonable compensation" for the unauthorized use of my designs, which would be limited to whatever maximum the court might set and constructed not to deprive the infringer of the profits he made "in reliance" on his so-called failure to locate me. No attorney would take this case on a contingency basis. And, as a small business owner, I could not possibly afford the costs of hiring an Intellectual Property attorney and taking the case to Federal court, so I would be unable to protect my designs.

I strongly oppose this legislation, and respectfully request that you do NOT pass it. Please do not hesitate to contact me. You can reach me at my office: _______________, or on my cell phone: ______________, or by e-mailing me at _____________________________________.