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: [email protected]
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