I was invited to join GAG by my employer, who was also in the regional GAG leadership. This has left me with an appreciation of the sleight of hand with which it maintains its legal standing as a union.<div><br></div><div>
There is no "trend towards the eradication of intellectual property law" - just the opposite, they are hardening the laws in response to digital technology, and under the pressure from corporate owners of IP to increase copyright durations.</div>
<div><br></div><div>The IP protection in the writers guild is in the form of residual payments. This is a big part of its mission as far as I can tell.</div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 4:43 PM, Steven Scotten <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:steves@splicer.com">steves@splicer.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div class="im">On Aug 10, 2009, at 1:22 PM, Matt Chapman wrote:<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I don't know anything about the Graphic Artists Guild, but the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers guild are in fact simply unions, in every way. The are not 'trade associations' and they do not include employers, and they have nothing to do with intellectual property protection.<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
The Graphic Artist's Guild (of which I'm a card-carrying member) is indeed a union. I signed an affirmation that I derive more income from my own work than as the owner or manager of any business that profits by the buying and/or selling of graphic artwork.<br>
<br>
That does not prevent the GAG from lobbying against the trend towards the eradication of intellectual property law. As many graphic artists are freelancers and not on "work-for-hire" contracts, protection of copyright is an important issue to working artists.<br>
<br>
Just FYI.<br>
<br>
<br>
Steve<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
consulting mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:consulting@drupal.org" target="_blank">consulting@drupal.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/consulting" target="_blank">http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/consulting</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>