PPA Meets with President-Elect Obama’s Transition Team

ATLANTA-As President-Elect Barack Obama prepares to take office, his

transition team is turning to Professional Photographers of America

(PPA) and other members of the creator community for advice. The

transition team asked to meet last Friday with the Copyright Alliance’s

seven-member board of directors-among them David Trust, PPA’s chief

executive officer and a founding member of the Alliance. 

 

“We were pleased with the opportunity to express to the new

administration our thoughts and concerns about copyright and

intellectual property issues,” Trust stated after the meeting. “I doubt

the photographic community has ever had an opportunity like this.”  

 

President-Elect Obama’s team wanted to have a clear understanding of

intellectual property issues on the day it receives the keys to the

White House. During the meeting, Trust pointed out that a major portion

of the economy is under siege and that photographers are an important

part of that economic mix. PPA’s written materials also pointed out that

the vast professional photographic network (over 122,000 nationwide)

encompasses every Congressional district…and the impact intellectual

property and its domestic and international enforcement play in their

livelihoods. After all, each of those 122,000 professional photographers

create an estimated 20,000 works each year.  

 

“I think I was most impressed with the genuine interest they displayed

for our collective message,” added Trust. “This was not just a courtesy

meeting-they listened intently and took pages of notes. It feels like we

are doing real good for photography and all creators.” 

Building a solid foundation with the incoming administration is key,

especially with the creation of the Intellectual Property Enforcement

Coordinator position at the White House level. That position was created

with the passage of the Pro IP Act this year, a bill which PPA and the

Copyright Alliance worked hard to pass.

 

“It takes a lot of work to make sure PPA, and the photographic community

as a whole, are heard on Capitol Hill,” said Trust. “And now we are

getting the chance, along with our friends in the Copyright Alliance, to

voice our issues to the next administration. Our Copyright and

Government Affairs Department is the only one of its kind in the entire

photographic world. We see this kind of advocacy as part of our

responsibility as a non-profit defender of photographers’ rights.”

 

To learn more about the meeting, please read the statement here: 

http://www.ppa.com/articles/181/PPA-Meets-with-PresidentElect-Obamas-Tra

nsition-Team.php

 

The Copyright Alliance , headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization dedicated to the value of copyright as an agent for creativity, jobs, and growth. For more information, please visit  www.copyrightalliance.org 

 

Professional Photographers of America (PPA), a worldwide, non-profit association, exists to assist its more than 22,000 members in achieving their professional, artistic, and fraternal goals; to promote public awareness of the profession; and to advance the making of images in all of its disciplines as an art, a science and a visual recorder of history. PPA is the only professional photographic association with a full-time Copyright & Government Affairs staff. For more information, visit www.ppa.com.

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Beware Facebook

If you photograph high school seniors and they post your photos to facebook facebook assumes all rights… even though those rights were not the kids’ to give..

Facebook Can Use Your Content for Promotional Purposes

Social networks such as Facebook can be helpful to your business. But before you click the “Sign Up” button, take a moment to read the Terms of Use, which state:

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant . . . to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

Fortunately, the license expires when you remove your Content from the site. But you may want to pause before you post any of your great photos that Facebook can use for promotional purposes.