Reply from Congressman Emanuel Cleaver concerning Orphan Works Act of 2008

[David Nicol]

I actually don't recall what position I was endorsing when I attempted
to summarize our discussion of HR #5889 in an e-mail to our former
mayor and fifth district rep, but here's his reply


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Congressman Emanuel Cleaver
Date: Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Subject: Reply from Congressman Emanuel Cleaver
To: davidnicol at gmail.com




Dear David:



Thank you for contacting me about H.R. 5889, the Orphan Works Act of
2008.  I appreciate hearing your thoughts about this important issue.



As you may know, under current copyright law, using a copyrighted work
without permission of the copyright owner can subject a user to
considerable civil liability.  Using a copyrighted work in one of the
proscribed ways requires permission from the copyright owner and
sometimes payment for the use.  But if the copyright owner cannot be
found, the work typically lies unused out of concern for the penalties
that could be imposed if the copyright owner surfaced after use has
begun.  Consequently, large amounts of copyrighted works - written
texts, photographs, sound recordings, video tracts, and much more -
are held in libraries, museums, archives and elsewhere, unused and
largely inaccessible to the public.



The Orphan Works Act of 2008 would limit the remedies in a civil
action on copyright infringement of a work whose creator cannot be
identified or located.  These orphan works are defined as any
copyrighted work whose creator cannot be found after a reasonably
diligent search.  H.R. 5889 would establish a publicly available
electronic database of all protected pictorial, graphic, and
sculptural works.  Although I believe the public could benefit from
access to more works, we should not sacrifice the fundamental right of
an artist to his or her work.  Currently, H.R. 5889 is pending
consideration in the House Committee on the Judiciary.  If this bill
should come to the floor for a vote, I will be sure to keep your
thoughts in mind.



Again, thank you for sharing your views with me.  Please do not
hesitate to contact me in the future if I may be of further
assistance.  Also, I encourage you to visit my website at
http://www.house.gov/cleaver, where you can sign up for my electronic
newsletter and receive updates on my latest activities as your
Representative.



Sincerely

Emanuel Cleaver, II

Member of Congress