Whats up with the Orphan Works legislation Ive been hearing about?
What does that have to do with the Google Books Settlement? Under current copyright law, any work of art you create is protected by copyright from the moment you create it, whether you register it with the Copyright Office or not. (You may not be able to collect statutory damages for infringement unless register it with the copyright office.) But under pending Orphan Works legislation, sketches and photos and movies and bits of music and boxes of old photos, slides, negatives, etc., that you have not registered would not be protected unless they were registered with a commercial registry, as I understand it (and no such registry currently exists). It’s the little guy who stands to lose most from this legislation, so pay attention. See useful links in the section on Copyright and fair use. And check Lawrence Lessig’s opinion piece on the subject in the New York Times: Little Orphan Artworks by Lawrence Lessig (5-20-08). The Google Books Settlement claims to be about Orphan Works legisla
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