When I began looking into that Orphan Works Act, I searched the web to see if the copyright expert Lawrence Lessig had weighed in. He’s something of an activist for getting more works into the public domain, particularly older and unused works (he actually favors a form of registration of copyright), so one might think he’d favor this legislation. But if this bill is as poorly conceived and drafted as I believe it is, someone with good legal judgment like Lessig, even though very sympathetic to its stated goals, would oppose it.
But I could find nothing by him about it on the web, so I couldn’t piggyback off his judgment, and had to decide it was bad legislation on my own, writing about it here.
Today’s New York Times has an Op-Ed piece by Lessig on the Orphan Works Act, and he comes out squarely against it:
Congress is considering a major reform of copyright law intended to
solve the problem of “orphan works” — those works whose owner cannot be
found. This “reform” would be an amazingly onerous and inefficient
change, which would unfairly and unnecessarily burden copyright holders
with little return to the public.
Whew. Now I’m sure. Once again, if you oppose this, please contact your congressperson.
But this opens up a new problem: How do I sue a copyright expert when he STEALS MY HEADLINE?!!
Ruben Bolling 5/13/08: "Little Orphan Act"
Lawrence Lessig 5/20/08: "Little Orphan Artworks"
By the way, all this thinking about copyright inspired my next comic, to be published this week.