Orphan Works Visual Arts Copyright Information Images of Eyes Gallery

The art work, paintings, and images in Images of Eyes Gallery are Copyright © by the artists whose names appear in the gallery. The works exhibited on this website have been provided by the artists who kindly gave permission to show them. Copyright and all rights therein are maintained by the artists, even though they are reproduced here electronically.

All images on this website and any linked copies may not be copied, reproduced, modified, published, uploaded, posted on the internet, transmitted, sold, or distributed in any way, unless the artist or copyright holder has given specific written permission to do so.

There is a high-resolution exhibit of oil paintings by Jeff Neugebauer of United States in Images of Eyes Gallery I. His practical approach to copyright is to explicitly give permission to viewers to copy the images in his exhibit, and to print and distribute them as well.

The fact that an image has been posted on the internet is in itself a clear message that the artist wants the image to be seen, and that he or she is not interested in collecting a fee each time someone takes a look at it. However, this does not mean that ordinary copyright concepts have ceased to apply: there is still someone who has the copyright to the work. The owner of the copyright is indicated on the page where the artist's work appears. Please respect the owners' rights.

Proposed "Orphan Works" Legislation
Info in this box updated Nov 14, 2008

If you are a visual artist you should be aware of the "Orphan Works" legislation passed or pending in Congress and what effect it could have on copyright protection for your artwork. The information in this box is intended only to minimally inform.

Govtrack.us indicates on its website that S. 2913 Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 was passed in the Senate by unanimous consent on Sep 26, 2008, and "the bill now goes to be voted on in the House [but] keep in mind that debate may be taking place on a companion bill in the House, rather than on this particular bill." The House bill is H.R. 5889 Orphan Works Act of 2008; it appears to be stalled in the House. Current status of the bill, as provided by Govtrack.us, is here.

Sources of information and articles

The U.S. Copyright Office has prepared a summary of the problems related to orphan works. The summary includes numerous links to related material, including testimony to the House and Senate subcommittees, and the proposed legislation introduced Apr 24, 2008, by the House and Senate.

Publicknowledge.org has comprehensive, up-to-date coverage on this controversy on its website at this link.

A study by Duke Law School describes the magnitude of the problem and concludes "The orphan works problem is so tragic because it denies access without producing incentives. It undercuts the constitutional goals of the copyright scheme, hurts libraries and archives, presents the new generation of authors and innovators with obstacles rather than solutions, and condemns large swathes of culture to literal physical destruction. Yet it does all this harm while actually serving authors very poorly. "

An opinion article in the New York Times dated May 20, 2008, written by Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Stanford, states "The solution before Congress. . .is both unfair and unwise" (link may require login). Lessig has more views and comment on his blog at http://lessig.org/blog/2007/02/copyright_policy_orphan_works.html . The blog includes a link to Lessig's 35-minute video presentation.

The American Society of Media Photographers [asmp.org] has advised its members "if that language is enacted in its current form, it will be the worst thing that has happened to independent photographers and other independent visual artists since Work Made for Hire contracts."

Visual artists have raised concerns about the proposed bills. They have created a website which states its organization is opposed to the Orphan Works legislation [ http://www.owoh.org/index.php].

There are two excellent articles about copyright on The Artist's Magazine website that are especially important to visual artists. The first is "What Every Artist Should Know About Copyright" dated Mar 27, 2008, written by Leonard DuBoff. The second is "Understanding the Orphan Works Controversy" dated May 23, 2008, written by Leonard DuBoff and Christy O. King. The latter article describes the problems involved when someone wants to use a copyrighted work but cannot identify or locate its owner -- the article also outlines proposed legislative solutions currently pending in both houses of Congress. Thanks to Grace at The Artist's Magazine for providing the information for this item.