Danny Reorganized Abstract

Orphaned Art

The Internet today is an essential tool for artists to promote and expose their work digitally to the public. Such work includes digital paintings, photography, scanned images, and many more forms of art which can then be viewed in a digital format. However, with the transformation of copyright laws and the Orphan Works bill, which promotes the idea of allowing a group or individual permission to use abandoned licensed material if the creator cannot be found, artists are at an ever-increasing risk of having their work stolen or misused. As a result, artists are torn between the benefits of posting online and the responsibility of protecting their work.

With the Internet constantly evolving, it is essential that artists have a convenient way to lay claim to their work, making their property easily identifiable. Therefore, all art posted on the Internet should be registered in a new system that legally binds artists to their work, ensuring that due credit is received. This online system, called Artevita, will be a privately owned and operated copyrighting service and archive, which artists will utilize to keep track of their work.

Initially the company will be funded by small business loans and donations, eventually implementing unobtrusive advertising on the website to ensure that it remains free to use. Artevita will use image recognition software, such as Milabra©, to analyze each image that is uploaded to the system and run it against all other images in the database, checking for duplicates. This system would work similarly to Google’s™ search engine, in which users upload a copy of the image in question, allowing them to search for the original artist to obtain copyright permission. Any copyright issues will be double-checked by an administrator of the system in order to dismiss or verify copyright abuse.

The Artevita System protects artists from potential infringement and allows them to continue using the Internet to expand their careers, while also benefiting parties searching for copyright holders.