I've heard about this, and I find it quite hard to believe, really. Either your american rights system sucks really hard, or people are misunderstanding it. I haven't quite figured it out yet.

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F: Bernard, where's Manny ?
B: Him? He left, like I always knew he would. that's what people do when you love them, and nurture them.
F: You mean you sacked him.
B: There may have been an incident.

*Black Books

[link]

yeah, people are overly paranoid and misinterpreting it. the idea was just that if the copyright holder can't be found after a reasonable search to find them and ask permission for use of their work (a search which has to be documented to be valid in court), the work is deemed an 'orphan work' and can be used anyway. if the copyright holder reappears and asks to have their work removed, it must be.

there's no actual legislation on it though, it's just an idea; and it wouldn't legalize art theft or require people to pay anything to copyright their work.

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Mill City Fiasco - powered by pure glee. | Click here to discuss Orphan Works.

You see, the way I interpreted it was that you couldn't make fan art or fan fics about anything that was copyrighted by anyone.

I think this helps clear it up somewhat, though. I read an article (one you linked to on the ASW forums, in fact) that helped alleviate some confusion.

If you're going to read the Copyright Office article, read this too to get the full story.

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Free Video Game/Anime Music

Yeah. Essentially what I believe it breaks down into is this:

When you (i.e., you being the author or artist) submit something, no-one will be able to use it (with or without permission, I don't know) and claim "I made this, lolz."

It will NOT prevent you from making fanfics/fanart of anything.

Did I sum this up about right?

Fan art/fan fiction is not an issue here, Orphan Works does not aim to affect that at all. As for the other point, that is what is in dispute. Orphan Works aims to prevent old works whose creators are inaccessible/unfindable from becoming useless (since no one has legal copyright over these old works, no one can do anything with them really), but dissenters (including me) contend that the way Orphan Works intends to alleviate this genuine concern would take a dangerous amount of rights away from the artists.

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Free Video Game/Anime Music

haha, cute! i love how the second person doesn't even talk, it really gives the punchline it's punch! Cx made me laugh!

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>open all week. unless end of world<

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Mill City Fiasco - powered by pure glee. | Click here to discuss Orphan Works.