On the subject of copyright, here is some recent information from a professional illustrator's forum. Since those of us who make a living by creating new work and selling its reproduction are constantly having to fight to protect the income from our work, this should be of concern to anyone in the US who has to file copyrights. Fees will be increasing even sooner than expected, and the staff to handle copyright registration will be cut back. If you are a writer, artist, or composer, this affects your work in the US. You can contact your congressional delegation and voice your concern about this lack of funding.

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House Appropriation Committee Targets Copyright Office for Massive Budget Cuts

The Legislative Appropriation for fiscal year 2001 contained a massive budget cut for the Copyright Office. The House Appropriations Committee has recommended a 42% cut in the requested Copyright Office budget of $12,120,000. That amounts to the Copyright Office operating on a budget of $6,987,630. The Committee thinks the Copyright Office could raise fees to cover the shortfall. The only other alternative would be for it to eliminate 130 positions.

Weren't fees just raised? Yes, the Copyright Office went through something similar last year when Congress had it go through a process that raised the basic copyright fee by 50% and other fees by more than 200%. These fees were to remain in effect for three years.

What does all this mean to those in the visual communications industry? The Copyright Office being forced to raise fees again place another financial crunch on the creative community.