The Congress is working on a new bill that may be some trouble. The details are hard to follow sometimes, but it looks like it will make it harder for the little guy to protect their Copyright. Here are some links to read up on it:
AIGA: The Orphan Work You Save Could Be Your Own
GAG: Orphan Works News
This is from Wikipedia Entry on the subject:
On June 6, 2008, artist Frank Stella (with Artists Rights Society president Theodore Feder) published an Op-Ed for the The Art Newspaper decrying a proposed U.S. Orphan Works law. In it, Stella wrote,
“The Copyright Office proposal would have a disproportionately negative, even catastrophic, impact on the ability of painters and illustrators to make a living from selling copies of their work… It is deeply troubling that government should be considering taking away their principal means of making ends meet—their copyrights.â€
