Tag Archives: graphic artists guild

A Big Question Mark.

(NOTE: Originally published Feb. 07, 2013, this post was re-edited for public display, Sept. 20, 2013.  The IAG is no longer my interest group at the NYC chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild, and I am no longer an officer, volunteer, or member of the Graphic Artists Guild.)

The following is why I’m of the opinion that a serious independent audit of the Guild’s finances is overdue.  A particularly stunning eye-opener in the LM-2 data is the amount of money listed under “Other Disbursements.”  Our 2011 LM-2 Annual Financial Report details expenses such as rent, employee salaries, copier leasing, newsletter design, printing, and etc.  There are, however, “Other Disbursements” entries found in the General Overhead, Union Administration, and Political Activities schedules, showing that in just 2011 alone, $217,000 was spent with no accompanying information whatsoever on payee or purpose.  That’s over one-quarter of all the money spent by the Guild in 2011.  I’m thinking that’s a lot of paper clips, coffee filters, or similar miscellaneous expenses that you’d expect might be categorized as “Other.”

LM-2_sch16_Political_HiLtLM-2_sch18_GenOverhd_HiLtLM-2_sch19_UnionAdmn_HiLt

My graphic breakdown of the 2011 LM-2  will save you some time in bringing the whole picture into focus.

-Chris

Copyright Alliance Update

(NOTE: Originally published Feb. 05, 2013, this post was re-edited for public display, Sept. 20, 2013.  The IAG is no longer my interest group at the NYC chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild, and I am no longer an officer, volunteer, or member of the Graphic Artists Guild.)

There just doesn’t seem to be an end to the mischief popping up in the news that keeps leading back to the Copyright Alliance and the Nickles Group LLC.  If you paid some attention to the high profile lawsuits involving Apple, Samsung, and other tech giants that made headlines this year, then you’ve likely heard the term “patent troll” which refers to companies that amass large libraries of patents, then proceed to make a tidy profit by suing manufacturers that arguably infringe on those patents.  Poorly defined, ambiguous software patents in particular have allowed trolls to threaten manufacturers with expensive lawsuits unless they agree to license the troll’s patents. In other words, trolls extort “protection money” from manufacturers in exchange for not suing.  NPR / National Public Radio’s “This American Life” has an excellent exposé of trolls in program #441, When Patents Attack.  There’s also a recent article posted by Mark Gibbs in Forbes, A Patent Troll Wants to Charge You for Emailing Your Scans!  that contains a summary of the business of patent trolling.

According to Mark Gibbs:

“From its original start as a rather sleazy extortion racket, patent trolling has evolved into a serious business model of which the biggest may well be Intellectual Ventures, a company founded by Microsoft’s former Chief Technology Officer, Nathan Myhrvold, and backed by a roster of the business who’s who to the tune of more than $5.5 billion.”

Now for the fun part.

Enter the Nickles Group, LLC, and their copyright boutique side-business, the Copyright Alliance.  

It turns out that for 5 years in a row, since 2007, Intellectual Ventures has been the Nickles Group’s #1 client.  And the Nickles Group has been Intellectual Venture’s #1 lobbying firm.  The primary contact listed on the lobbying reports for the Intellectual Ventures account is Cindi Tripodi, a founding partner of the Nickles Group, and the lobbyist who also represents the Copyright Alliance.  Cindi was actually listed as a Copyright Alliance staff member until September 2012, when her bio was removed from the Alliance’s website.  (This happened very shortly after my report ‘An Examination of the Copyright Alliance’ was distributed, which pointed out the connections between the Alliance and Nickles; but of course that’s merely a coincidence, . . )

Nickles Group top clientsBelow is a detail of the report filed by the Nickles Group on its lobbying for Intellectual Ventures; first quarter 2012.

lobby report; Tripodi and IV

Should any of this matter to you? Only if you care about where some of your dues money* to the Guild ends up, and who’s being consulted when Guild officers make decisions on advocacy.  Here is a detail from the Guild’s 2011 LM-2 Annual Financial Report to the Department of Labor.  Note the address, and where we’ve been sending $5000 every year.

Guild LM-2 shows Alliance addr=Nickles

Detail of the Guild’s 2011 LM-2, schedule 16, Political Activities and Lobbying.

 

(*National officers claimed that this statement is untrue, that the Graphic Artists Guild’s annual $5000 payments for membership in the Copyright Alliance have come from reprographic rights royalty money.  However, while I was a member of the Guild’s International Board of Directors, no document was ever produced that separated usage of dues from reprographic royalty funds.  This includes the official budget proposal documents presented to the International Board of Directors for the Guild’s November 2012 Annual Convention.  See my March 13, 2013 post Reprographic Royalties for some background information.)

Meeting Recap: The Copyright Jungle

Jungle with snake illustration

(NOTE: Originally published Oct. 26, 2012, this post was re-edited for public display, Sept. 20, 2013.  The IAG is no longer my interest group at the NYC chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild, and I am no longer an officer, volunteer, or member of the Graphic Artists Guild.)

If you’ve been around the Guild for any length of time, or are serious about making a living as an illustrator, then you are of course familiar with the basics of copyright. You probably know the drill when it comes to registering works with the U.S. Copyright Office, and likely have attended one or more lectures on copyright such as those hosted by our chapter. If you’ve been around the block as an illustrator, then maybe you’ve even hired an attorney to help solve a copyright-related business issue, and so experienced the thrilling complexities of the law first-hand.

The thing is, there’s a lot more to copyright than just those everyday aspects such as registering and managing the usage of your intellectual property. Of course there is; how could there not be?! After all, copyright law has everything to do with who owns stuff, who profits, and how business gets done around the globe. It is therefore tangled up in many of the other social, economic, and political controversies happening all around us; money in politics and corporate influence; erosion of free speech and other constitutional rights; complex and potentially dangerous global trade policies; control and abuse of technology; and disruptions to both domestic and international labor markets.

The research I did on the Copyright Alliance brought home to me that there are serious and important battles being fought over copyright, going on right now in government offices, corporate board rooms, and in the courts. If you are a Guild member, pay attention; some of your dues money* has gone to the Copyright Alliance, allegedly to help strengthen copyright protections for artists and illustrators. However, since it turns out that the Alliance is a front group for corporate interests, namely big media and telecom giants such as the MPAA, COMCAST, and AT&T,  you might not be very happy when I tell you that your money also went to support a few things you’d be less likely to approve of: erosion of the FCC’s net neutrality policies that prevent Comcast and other major service providers from gaining excessive control over the internet; support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which might do further harm to democratic controls on international trade, already damaged by NAFTA, CAFTA, and other treaties; and support for SOPA, that thoroughly disgraced attempt to alter internet protocols for the purpose of increasing corporate control over web content.

The Copyright Alliance is only one of the many species of animals in the copyright jungle that are working hard to alter laws and policies to suit their interests. I’ve assembled below something of a scouting report on the critters and the terrain I encountered while researching the Copyright Alliance, and have also included a few links and resources to help you figure things out for yourself. Good luck with that!

THE CRITTERS.
While way too numerous and nuanced to list individually, they can be divided into a few general categories:

Maximalists. Corporate interests mostly, seeking rock-solid protections for what they currently own, control over the means to access both their stuff (and everyone else’s), the suppression of competition, and the ability to cheaply acquire all the stuff they don’t yet own.

Minimalists. Consumer-oriented interests that would like access to everything at no cost.

Economic Hybrids. Businesses that both use and produce creative works, or have multiple and competing interests affected by copyright: educational institutions, artists and graphics professionals, and a wide variety of companies in industries such as communications, design, and advertising.

Citizens. Everyone and anyone interested or concerned about free speech, corporate influence in government, the rights of employees, social values connected to technology, communications, and other elements affected by copyright law.

THE TERRAIN.
Here are some terms that relate to past battles fought over copyright, are still being fought, or might be coming soon to a jungle clearing near you. While some controversial proposals for copyright legislation have apparently come and gone, such as orphan works, there’s a chance that they could come back to life in the future; it all depends on circumstance and how much money is at stake. Yes, it does appear that this jungle is inhabited by zombies!

Berne Convention
Copyright Act of 1976
Copyright renewal Act of 1992
WIPO  (World Intellectual Property Organization)
DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act)
Copyright term extension
Orphan Works
DRM (Digital Rights Management)
DMCA takedowns*
SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act)*
Fair Use*
Net Neutrality*
Digital / Internet Piracy*
ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement)*
TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement)*

* Items you should pay particular attention to.

LINKS AND RESOURCES.

Resources 1. Maximalists

Copyright Alliance
MPAA
RIAA
ASCAP
Chilling Report
Center for Copyright Information
Creative America
Copyhype
Copyright Clearance Center
Global Intellectual Property Center
Book: Robert Levine. Free Ride: How Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back.

Resources 2. Everyone Else: Hybrids, Minimalists, Citizens.
(You’ll have to decide for yourself who’s who!)

Copyright Society
Techdirt
Ars Technica
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Public Knowledge
Creative Commons
Chilling Effects Clearinghouse
Book: Peter Decherney. Hollywood’s Copyright Wars: From Edison to the Internet.
Book: Jason Mazzone. Copyfraud and Other Abuses of Intellectual Property Law.
Book: William Patry. How to Fix Copyright.
e-book: The Sky is Rising. (Suggests that online profit potential is rising, despite digital piracy fears).
Video online: Bill Moyers & Company. Elections for Sale.
(This episode includes a discussion on how non-profit organizations are distorting the democratic process. Relevant when considering the impact that non-profits are having in the battles over copyright).

Miscellaneous Links.  Research Tools, Technical and Government Resources to help you find stuff.

OpenSecrets.org  Look up data on lobbyists and campaign contributions.
Sunlight Foundation  Watchdog on government activities
Sourcewatch  Look up data on political groups and individuals.
WhoLobbiesUs  Data required to be publicly disclosed by lobbyists to U.S. Senate.
PR Watch  Center for Media and Democracy.
Thomas.gov  Look up information on specific legislation.
IRS Exempt Organization search  Find tax information on specific non-profit organizations.
Columbia University Libraries Copyright Quick Guide.  Good summary of copyright law and best practices.
U.S. Copyright Office  The official scoop on copyright.

-Chris

(*National officers claimed that this statement is untrue, that the Graphic Artists Guild’s annual $5000 payments for membership in the Copyright Alliance have come from reprographic rights royalty money.  However, while I was a member of the Guild’s International Board of Directors, no document was ever produced that separated usage of dues from reprographic royalty funds.  This includes the official budget proposal documents presented to the International Board of Directors for the Guild’s November 2012 Annual Convention.  See my March 13, 2013 post Reprographic Royalties for some background information.)

Objects in Motion

(NOTE: Originally published Sept. 13, 2012, this post was re-edited for public display, Sept. 20, 2013.  The IAG is no longer my interest group at the NYC chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild, and I am no longer an officer, volunteer, or member of the Graphic Artists Guild.)

After a long summer break, it’s about time to get things going at the IAG again.  I’ll begin by providing a few updates; first, I finally completed a report on the Copyright Alliance that I had started way back in March.  I originally hoped to have it wrapped up long before now, but unfortunately it took me down a much deeper rabbit hole than I had anticipated, on a journey through labor law, right-wing politics, and the sordid business of lobbying in Washington D.C.  I was motivated to write the report while following the progress of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) that died a well-deserved death this past spring, which the Guild briefly supported after maybe taking its cue from the Copyright Alliance.  (The Graphic Artists Guild is currently an executive member of the Alliance).  My report lays out details showing the Alliance to be a front group for a select clique of corporate interests, that operates out of a Washington D.C. lobbying firm headed by Senator Don Nickles, a staunch conservative from Oklahoma.  The conclusion I reached is that the Graphic Artists Guild should not provide either financial or vocal support to the Alliance, and should terminate its executive membership.  I just recently sent the report to the national officers and board of directors at the Guild, so we’ll probably have to wait a little to see if anything develops. After the Guild leadership has had adequate time to decide on policy I’ll make the report freely available to everyone.

While my Copyright Alliance report originally started off as guild business, it touches on a number of issues that all illustrators should be mindful of, and which should be discussed at the IAG.  I became familiar with a few things while investigating the Alliance: ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement); the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP); the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA); the “chilling effect” of DMCA take-down notices; Hollywood accounting; net neutrality; and a few other issues that we should take some time to learn about.

That brings me to my last news item; we will have our next IAG meeting at the Productive on Thursday, September 27, and I will give a presentation on the current political landscape of copyright and related trade issues, and so share with you a bit of knowledge gained by all my Copyright Alliance muckraking.  Since I’m not a lawyer I won’t be making pronouncements about legislative details, but I will be able to provide you with a pretty good summary of who the players on the field are, what they are advocating, and point you to some resources that might help you sort things out for yourself.  The main idea behind my presentation will be to alert you to a few objects in motion in the business world and in Washington D.C. that may not be making huge headlines, but are still worth paying attention to.

-Chris