Final Abstract - ALEX

Orphaned Art


The Internet today is commonly known as a favorite 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 be viewed as a digital image. However, with the transformation of copyright laws and the Orphan Works bill, artists have been at an ever-increasing risk of having their work stolen or misused. The Orphan Works bill promotes the idea of allowing a group or individual permission to use abandoned licensed material if the creator cannot be found. As a result, artists are torn between the benefits of posting online and protecting their work from thieves.

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. Our system, which we call ____ serves as a hub, which connects with art communities and various other art affiliated websites, providing the opportunity for artists to fill out information on their creative work before submitting it to the web. These works will be filed in an online archive, which can be accessed at any time if the original creator of a specific work must be found.

This system would work similarly to Google’s search engine, in which users upload a copy of the image in question, and allow the system to search its database for the same art piece, labeled and registered with all the information about the artist. This will allow users to search for original copyright holders and artists to ensure that their work is properly and legally copyrighted. It will be privately owned and maintained; receiving funding by donations and sponsors from art networking sites. The ____ protects artists from potential infringement and allows them to continue using the Internet to expand their careers.

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____ = our undecided name for the system.