Bill Gates seeks changes to copyright laws...

[javan]

According to the poster on this website the United States will greatly expand the amount of "orphaned works of art".

from the article:
"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."

"If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to everything we've created over the past 34 years, unless we register it with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that someone wishing to steal your personal creations won't successfully call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free."

Bill Gates apparently owns one of the companies that would handle the registrations....

[ZFR]

Hey nice thread title, man. In the link you provided it's nowehere mentioned that it's Bill Gates who seeks to change the law. But I'm sure the fact that he own one of the companies that would handle the registration is sufficient proof that he is behind this and all the evil in this world.

[/sarcasm] for those who might miss it.

So when Microsoft wants to tighten the copyright laws (few years ago everyone was bitching about it) it's bad. When they want to loosen them, it's bad as well. lol

[javan]

On top of page two of the article Bill Gates is mentioned...

"Two proponents of this new legislation are Corbis and Getty Images. They are large stock photo and stock art companies. They sell art and photos inexpensively and are trying to build giant royalty-free databases. Do you see how they could benefit from considering most works of art in the world orphans?

Do you know who owns Corbis? Bill Gates. He doesn't do anything unless it can make a huge amount of money. Helping you lose the copyright to your art is big business for Gates."

Edit: Another blog refutes his arguments...

[ZFR]

Originally Posted by javan On top of page two of the article Bill Gates is mentioned... "Two proponents of this new legislation are Corbis and Getty Images. They are large stock photo and stock art companies. They sell art and photos inexpensively and are trying to build giant royalty-free databases. Do you see how they could benefit from considering most works of art in the world orphans? Do you know who owns Corbis? Bill Gates. He doesn't do anything unless it can make a huge amount of money. Helping you lose the copyright to your art is big business for Gates." Edit: Another blog refutes his arguments...

Yes I saw that his name is mentioned on page 2, but the way your thread title goes makes it look as if he's the one behind this new law.

[Iron Greasel]

A was somewhat appalled when I first heard about it and felt a bit silly for believing it when I second heard about it. In retrospect, I don't think the US really could have enforced compulsory registration of everything. The rest of the world might have something to say if The US declared that it no longer recognizes foreign copyright and everyone will have to start paying them. The Berne Convention might be awfully dated at the age of Internet, but having somewhat uniform copyright laws has made international trade a lot easier.

[Luvian]

They're trying to screw over every artists and you're arguing over who's responsible for it? Get a grip. It doesn't matter who's behind it, what's important is that it's really bad.

[SilentThief]

What happens to those who make un-autorized copies of Gates Microsofts intellectual property? They certainly wouldn't let that happen. This sounds almost like a corporate "smash and grab"

ST