Copyright legislation delayed

After all the hard work of photography and illustration community, the Copyright Modernization Act of 2006, HR6052, which incorporated the Orphan Works legislation, has been withdrawn.

With time so short in this session of Congress, and additional consumer opposition to some of the music industry provisions of the bundled bill, there clearly was no chance of passage this year

We fully expect Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) to reintroduce the bill next year.

In the meantime ASMP along with other photography groups will have time to plan for a more favorable bill. Check the ASMP Orphan Works site for more details.

Thanks to everyone for all your letters and hard work.

Orphan Works Bill now part of HR 6052

The Orphan Works Bill now has been folded, without change, into a larger bill, HR6052, called the Copyright Modernization Act of 2006. Also included are unrelated copyright law changes affecting digital music download. Markup was scheduled for Wednesday September 13, but at the meeting the bill was removed from the calendar.

ASMP’s General Counsel, Victor Perlman, on behalf of the coalition of photography organizations, attended the meeting and reports on the ASMP Orphan Works page :

ASMP is checking with sources on Capitol Hill to see whether there is any significant chance that the bill will be placed on another markup calendar later this year, or whether it is likely to die without further action in this Congress. If it dies in this Congress, proponents of an Orphan Works bill will have to have a new bill introduced in the next Congress (next year), and the whole process will begin again from square one.

ASMP fully expects that, if this Congress ends without passing the bill, the copyright-user community will not rest and will seek to have a new bill introduced next year.