Old – or Archived – News

Need some background on an issue of interest to graphic artists? This is a good place to look. Here we have posted some of our old website news articles, on issues that still resonate for visual artists.

If you need something on current advocacy issues, check here. If you want to refer to an article from the Guild News, you really want to be here. But, if you’re looking for pictures of Guild meetings, history about initiatives taken on by the Guild, information about important members who are no longer with us, this is the place to look. While this isn’t complete, there's a lot of archived information here to keep you on top of what went on in the past.

News Briefs

International Authors’ Forum Meeting Calls for International Cooperation and Communication

Coinciding with the 2009 IFRRO [International Federation of Reprographic Rights Organizations] Annual General Meeting in Oslo, Norway, an International Authors Forum was held in Oslo on Tuesday morning, October 20. The meeting focused on media concentration, authors’ rights and contracts. These are the very same issues the Graphic Artists Guild has promoted in the United States since its inception in 1967 and why the Guild was present at the meeting.

Speakers addressed “the growing usage of unfair contracts for authors in all parts of the world,” “the lack of opportunities for co-operation between authors groups both nationally and internationally,” and “the need for a global international organizational network representing authors.” Representatives from 60 authors and creators organizations, mostly from North America and Europe, attended.

Mats Lindberg of BUS (the Visual Arts Copyright Society in Sweden) organized the meeting, and Trond Andreassen of NFF (the Norwegian Non-fiction Writers And Translators Association). Helge Rönning of Kopinor (the Norwegian Reprographic Rights Organization) spoke on the ways in which media is concentrating in the literary field. Bernt Hugenholtz, an intellectual property attorney in the Netherlands, spoke on boiler-plate contracts used by media conglomerates and the prevalence of all-rights and work-for-hire contracts.

The group also discussed formulating an “official” position statement calling for authors and creators groups to communicate with each other and educate their membership about all-rights contracts, work collectively towards more fair contracts with publishers, and educate consumers about the importance and value of copyright to the livelihood of creative professionals.

Graphic Artists Guild National President John Schmelzer and National Advocacy Committee Chair Lisa Shaftel attended.

The group agreed to meet again next year, in conjunction with the 2010 IFRRO Annual General Meeting. The Graphic Artists Guild has been a member of IFRRO for more than a decade, and has worked with them to facilitate the rights and concerns of artists around the world.

Tell the President You Want Your Rights Protected

Your rights to your own work are in jeopardy. And no one can speak up for your rights better than you. In fact, there are a lot of people who don't want you to stand up for your rights (your silence helps them use your work unfairly). But, as a creator, you know that maintaining ownership of your work is important. And having the freedom to choose how you copy, use, and distribute your work is also necessary for your success and livelihood.

Artists working together are profoundly more powerful than any of us working alone. That, of course, is the philosophy behind The Graphic Artists Guild. But the Guild is also more powerful when we align our voice with the voices of others who share our concerns. The Guild belongs to, and supports, The Copyright Alliance, because our ability to succeed is largely determined by how well our copyrights are protected.

The Copyright Alliance has put together an online letter to tell Barack Obama and Joe Biden that you want your creative work to be recognized and respected. The letter was released to the public this week. We want as many artists as possible to sign the letter before it’s sent to the President and Vice President. It’s easy. Just enter your name, artist type, city, state, and email and hit “sign.”

Sign the letter. And pass this email on to your other creative friends to sign the letter in order to protect your rights to – and your ability to profit from – your own work. The Guild is strongly behind this initiative and trust you will add your voice to the effort.

Your voice as an artist is important, so sign the letter today!

http://www.copyrightalliance.org/letter/

Google Settlement Delayed

Judge Denny Chin, the judge overseeing the Google Books settlement has agreed to plaintiffs' request for a delay of the final hearing scheduled to approve the controversial settlement, which is being reworked by the parties. The American Association of Publishers and the Authors Guild asked the court to delay the final fairness hearing on the proposed agreement, which needs court approval to go ahead. For more information, click here.

Graphic Artists Guild Files Objections to Google Books Settlement

The Graphic Artists Guild joined several other visual arts rights holders’ trade groups and prominent individual photographers in filing objections to the $125 million class action settlement with Google Books for copyright infringement. For full story, click here.

There have been a number of accounts on the Internet and elsewhere reporting that passage of Orphan Works (OW) legislation is imminent. The Guild’s contacts on the Hill are extensive and constant. We have been assured by Congressional staff that no OW bill is imminent, nor is it expected in the near future. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep you posted.

Check back as we add to this page!