Last year the United States Congress debated “Orphan Works” legislation. This change in the copyright law would allow works to be released into the public domain if the author or artist was long-dead or could not be located. Many professional photographers worried that the proposed legislation would enable art directors or stock image houses to use their copyrighted photos after a cursory attempt to find the original owner. Although the legislation was tabled in 2006, experts are recommending that you add your contact information and copyright into the metadata fields in each image you distribute…even low-res proof images you show on the web.

The Orphan Works law has many supporters, so it is just a matter of time before some version of the law is enacted. Click here to read an interesting article (a PDF file download) in After Capture magazine by Ethan Salwen about implementing a RAW workflow to brand all your images so that you can avoid losing copyright once Orphan Works becomes law.