From: <swstiles at comcast.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: FW: [RavenCon] (OT)Artists: A call to action!
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 07:59:39 -0500
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

I'll make use of that link & write.

I think the most blatant cartooning copyright infringement
I've seen is in the "fine arts" -- there's an "artist" (I've
forgotten his name) who covers his canvas with crude scrawls
and blobs of color, then photographically reproduces
illustrations by E.C. artists on them; he's "borrowed" art
by Craig, Feldstein, Severin, Kamen, Evans, and Ingels, that
I know of -- I'm none of these artists, or their surviving
relatives, got any compensation from works of "art"  (by a
talentless hack) that went for big bucks. (Of course, DC
Comics probably now owns all those copyrights, but still...)

As an E.C. fan, this theft bugs me. If it happened to me I'd
be furious.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Walsh" <mjw at press.jhu.edu>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "J. Andrew World" <captnflannel at yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: RavenCon at yahoogroups.com
> To: RavenCon at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [WSFA] [RavenCon] (OT)Artists: A call to action!
> Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 22:08:43 -0800 (PST)
>
> Please repost this!
>
> Artists' rights are coming under attack!
> The House Judiciary Commity has an Act that they are
waiting to vote on
> that will seriously hurt artists. If this law is passed it
will
> drastically affect how much right you have to your own
work.
>
> The Orphan Works act (You can use this link to see where
it stands:
> http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.5439:) will
take away
> your
> rights to your work.
>
> I can't explain it better than Tad Crawford from
Communication Arts
> November
> Design Annual 2006:
> "To
> give some additional background, on May 22, 2006, a bill
titled "Orphan
> Works Act of 2006" was introduced in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
> This bill follows the Copyright Office proposal by
allowing a person to
> use a work without permission if the person has "performed
and
> documented a reasonably diligent search in good faith to
locate the
> owner of the infringed copyright." If the owner cannot be
found after
> such a search, then even though the use is technically an
infringement,
> the penalties for the infringement are minimal or
nonexistent. If an
> owner discovers the infringement, the highest compensation
that the
> owner can obtain is "reasonable compensation" and the
infringement can
> continue. The owner is not allowed to seek damages, costs
or attorney's
> fees. If the infringement is "without any purpose of
direct or indirect
> commercial advantage and primarily for a charitable,
religious,
> scholarly, or educational purpose," and the usage ceases
after the
> owner complains, then the owner will not even have the
right to ask for
> reasonable compensation."
>
> What can you do?
>
> Simply write
> the House Judiciary Committee and *YOUR* congressman, both
current and
> newly
> elected. Here is a link to
> a page with instructions and a form letter to use:
>
http://www.gag.org/activities/advocacy_materials/orphan_works_letters_2.php
> I urge everyone who reads this to pass this information on
as well as
> write
> to your representives in Washington.
>
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