It seems that American lawmakers are planning a new copyright scam, which will allow people who steal your work to sue you for using it without their permission.
 clipped from mag.awn.comI find nothing funny about the new Orphan Works legislation that is before Congress. An Orphaned Work is any creative work of art where the artist or copyright owner has released their copyright, whether on purpose, by passage of time, or by lack of proper registration. In the same way that an orphaned child loses the protection of his or her parents, your creative work can become an orphan for others to use without your permission. Currently, you don't have to register your artwork to own the copyright. You own a copyright as soon as you create something. International law also supports this. Right now, registration allows you to sue for damages, in addition to fair value.
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And if you live outside America, any American will be able to register your work and claim it as their own -- remember the scammers who tried to copyright rooibos tea?
I hope this is just an April fool's joke that's past its sell-by date, as it's not from an official source, but the rooibos tea incident shows that it's just the kind of thing the Americans would do.
1 comment:
That is just sick! You have just painted all 300 million people with one brush stroke to be exactly the same color. How DARE you! Are all S.A.'s the same in attitude, goals, practices, etc...?
Don't unthinkingly jump on the band wagon against Americans! It's popular to beat up on the big guy, just because he's big and won't beat back unless REALLY provoked (remember 911 and all that preceeded it when the U.S. did not beat back).
It is cowardly to accuse 300 million people of something a handful of politicians and corporate criminals are trying to pass into law.
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