[NetBehaviour] Fwd: Mickey Mouse Bill

[Rob Myers]

bob catchpole wrote:

> My real point, which you don't address,  is that copyright is a
> universal, automatic right. ONLY in the States it means nothing if you 
> don't register. 

In the US, copyright means that you can stop people copying your work 
without permission. It is quite literally the right to control copies.

Registration only affects damages where copyright is infringed.

> Instead of ending the fiasco and coming into line with 
> the rest of the world, the Orphan Works Bill proposes even more
> registration. 

http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1561

"MYTH: The bills would mandate registration of all visual arts in 
expensive, private registries.

FACT: Neither bill contains such a mandate. Owners’ failure to register 
would not absolve users of their search obligations. The purpose behind 
the “visual registries” provisions is to help artists keep ownership 
information associated with their works and to help users find owners. 
In order to achieve this purpose, the bills contemplate the development 
of electronic databases of visual works in the market place. However, 
these registries do not have to be expensive. The bills do not require 
artists to use these services, nor do they require the services to 
charge a registration fee. Services that operate in the current 
marketplace, and provide services free of cost, could easily evolve into 
the visual registries contemplated by the bills. The bottom line is that 
the bills aim to encourage the market to solve a problem to help owners 
be found, but the bills do not require owners to register with these 
services."

- Rob.