I received an email last night saying that the House of Representatives was set to pass the Orphan Works Act. Not able to corroborate the announcement (that cited the Illustrators’ Partnership’s “DC Sources”) with the docket on the House of Reps web site, I opted not to post the news. The bill did not go up for a vote.
But alas, I’ve received several emails today from concerned artists – all referencing the Illustrators’ Partnership blog – saying that the bill is going to a vote today. I don’t know if that is true or not. There seems to be a bit of panic in the announcement and very little evidence that the bill is actually in play. Thanks to the “Bail Out Bill” passage this morning, the House of Representative’s site is unresponsive. I cannot see if the bill is scheduled for a vote.
If you have information regarding the bills status (that doesn’t cite the Illustrators’ Partnership), please email me. If this bill is of concern to you, note that there is a possibility this bill is not yet fully dead and one would be well to contact their representatives to stay on top of it.