Dear NATALIE,
URGENT ACTION NEEDED on CA Senate Bill 771 -- Please read and take the
few minutes to help!!
What a difference a couple of days make -- we are back to needing URGENT action on the
part of all of our California members regarding the right-of-publicity bill, SB771, that will reverse two court decisions and create
havoc for photographers. (There is background information following ACTION NEEDED NOW that may be useful in helping understand what's been
going on behind the scenes.)
If enacted, this legislation will create major problems for photographers everywhere
who photograph anyone who turns out be a celebrity residing in California! Please send an email to the Governor urging him to veto SB 771
today.
ACTION NEEDED NOW:
EMAIL Governor Schwarzenegger TODAY at http://gov.ca.gov/interact.
1. "Purpose of your Email", select "Have Comment"
2. Fill in your contact information
3. Pull-down menu for "Please Choose Your Subject," select "OTHER"
(last on the list)
4. Hit "Submit", which
takes you to an email page
5. "Your Position", select “Con” and in "Subject Field", write
“Please Veto SB 771"
6. "Write Your Email" should be short and to the point, asking the Governor to veto SB 771. You can
copy and paste the message below or write your own:
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
As a California resident and independent photographer, I am urging you to veto SB771. This bill does
the opposite of what it is purported to do -- protect celebrities from commercial exploitation of their images. And, although it is promoted as
necessary for the protection of the families of celebrities, SB771 will in many cases, actually strip them of their existing rights, while
negatively impacting freedom of expression and freedom of commerce. Photographers, the estates of celebrities and copyright holders that
are run by their families, and many others have much to lose if this bill is signed into law.
As a constituent, I respectfully ask that you also consider the stealthy manner in which this bill has
been rushed through the legislature, circumventing the proper process and timetable for public review and comment. The result is an ill-advised,
poorly written bill, that appears to place the financial gain of a few over the legitimate rights of others. Again, I urge
your veto of this bill.
Thank you for your kind consideration.
Sincerely yours, (insert your name)
Background Information -- Letter by Joshua Green (from
ImagingInsider.com)
The purpose that I am writing this letter to you today
is to explain our current situation and ask for your help in whatever form you are comfortable helping us. I assume that most of you are aware that
Larry Shaw, Tom Kelley, and I have been awarded by judges in New York and California in that we have proven that the will of Marilyn Monroe does not
legally capture rights of publicity and therefore, as of the time of her death, her rights of publicity became part of the public domain.
This means that Anna Strasberg and CMG have committed fraud and they have extorted money from all of their
licensors. We have agreed to a speedy appeal because we believe that we will win in the final judgment so we can settle this once and for all.
However, in the meantime, Anna Strasberg has greased the wheels in California by dropping an unknown, substantial amount of money in Sacramento. With
the help of Loeb & Loeb, a very large, well known law firm and two very slick lobbyists, they have gutted and amended a stem cell bill with the help
of Senator Sheila Keuhl, and copied and pasted a bill known as SB771, which amends the existing California law SEC3344.1, which is the 1984 Rights of
Publicity Act that has been in effect for 22 years.
Regardless of the fact that this still will not help Marilyn Monroe directly, because she was not a
resident of California, the changes that are created by the amendment SB771 are highly questionable, probably unconstitutional, and will take away
legitimate rights from families and make them available to entities like CMG, or beneficiaries of a will.
[There is a sample letter below, and here is the link to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s email
page. I ask that you modify my letter in whatever way you are comfortable, but please send letters of opposition.] We have tried to protest against
this bill, both by faxes and by personal appearances, and we are finding that the official record that follows each amendment has not included our
letters of opposition or our appearances. The only sponsor of record of this bill is SAG, and yet SAG did not poll or announce their intentions to
their membership, and many of their members are against this bill.
What’s very important to understand is that this amendment of the original California 1984 law
would create a precedent where entities like Corbis, or CMG, or any new agent would have unfair advantages over family members that manage estates of
personalities or copyright holders. Surely the end game is that we expect CMG and Anna to now use this as a basis of precedent to create a similar law
in the state of New York, which may in fact be the next fight.
We support any of our public figures or famous artists to have protection of their rights of publicity,
but we are highly skeptical of the outrageous act that you could reach as far back to 1915 and take what has already gone into the public domain and
reclaim it. This is unfair. What’s water under the bridge is water under the bridge, and the law is the law. So they lost, and now they are
trying to rewrite the law.
If this bill passes, galleries and photographers will be subject to estates’ approval of every
image that is shown, published, exhibited, or sold. My God, this is against ones Freedom of Speech which is protected by our Constitution. Senator
Keuhl and the proponents of this bill have circumvented the process in Sacramento by moving it through so quickly. They have not allowed for public
opinion, nor have they allowed for the fair 30-day time period to hear opposition and testimony. Since we know that our documents, faxes, and letters
are not being accounted for, we are making this last blitzkrieg effort to reach out to all aspects of citizens that are negatively impacted by this
ruling - and they are: Manufacturers and publishers like yourselves, photographers, estates of famous people and copyright holders that are run by
families, and last, collectors who buy the memorabilia, which in fact are your clients.
Below is a list of individuals or organizations who have already written letters of opposition against
this bill:
Advertising Photographers of America (APA)
American Society of Media Photographers, Inc. (ASMP)
The
Milton H. Greene Archives, Inc.
The Archives, LLC
Tom Kelley Studios, Inc.
Pacific Licensing, Inc.
Shaw Family Archives
Bradford
Licensing Associates
The Children of Ray Charles
The Children of Marlon Brando
The Soni Law Firm
Law offices of David Marcus
Law
Offices of Andrew J. Stern
Mary Anne den Bok
Nancy Shaw, Esq.
Mamie Van Doren, Actress
Hunter Freeman, Photographer
Joshua Greene,
Photographer
Chuck Murphy
Mark Liebman, President of Pictopia
Sal Serrantino
Gilbert Ortiz
Gerald Bybee
Mark
Bellinghaus
Jennifer Dickinson
Ernest Cunningham
Donelle Dadigan
Cole Sternberg
Robert Wyatt
Chris Jensen
Dale Dimmick
Heidi
Hidrobo
Jill Adams
Jamil Smith - actor
Marian Smith - private investigator
Ray Charles Robinson, Jr.
Raenee Robinson
Ryan Corey
Robinson den Bok
Rev. Robert Robinson
David Robinson
Rev. Samuel Gray - Cornerstone Inst. Baptist Church
Ms. Elnora Jones - Cornerstone
Church Administrator
Lynn Younger Kenneth Younger - retired engineer,
Ford Dealer, Actor & Sag member
Ira Odessky - Photographer
Carol
Alvarez Nancy Priddy - Actress SAG
Galleries
Fans
This is a very time sensitive issue because the Governor is expected to sign this bill into law or veto
this bill as early as tomorrow and no later than Tuesday, so I ask that you act immediately. Thank you in advance for any help you can give Tom
Kelley, Larry Shaw and myself. Here is the link to contact the Governor via email: http://gov.ca.gov/interact.
All the best,
Joshua Greene
APA California Members -- thank you in advance for your help!
Constance Evans
APA National CEO
