The House is about to vote on a bill called the Orphan Works Bill.

Here's the short version of what that means:

There will be searchable databases of works that are copyrighted in this country, run by internet companies. The holders of the copyrights will have to register their work on those databases and pay any associated fees. The holders of the databases would be able to take a cut of any royalties.

If the work is not findable, then it could be assumed to not be under copyright. In fact, if the work is not easily found, it could be considered an orphan work, and, therefore, free for any use.

I have some major problems with this whole mess, and I imagine that you creative types feel the same way. Want to tell your representative in the House? Click here.

If you want a more thorough explanation of the bill and what it means, go here.

Please help fight this! We shouldn't have to pay for the rights to our own work!

I should point out that the vote is tomorrow, so please protest this tonight.