American Society of Media Photographers



SAMPLE ONLY: PLEASE USE YOUR OWN WORDS AND DATA – NEARLY EXACT COPIES WILL NOT HAVE IMPACTDear [Senator or Representative],My name is Jenna Close and I am the Past-Chair of the National Board of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), a 75 year old trade organization dedicated to fostering sustainable business practices for photographers in the US and around the world. I am also a full-time professional photographer based in San Diego, CA.I am writing today to express my support for the CASE Act, which is designed to create an effective forum for independent creators to seek restitution for copyright infringement. Creators like myself are frustrated when it comes to the current copyright system. We have a Constitutional right to protect our creative works under copyright law, yet we are consistently unable to enforce that right. Bringing a suit to federal court is costly and time consuming. It is not an option for the majority of us. This reality makes financial losses created by infringements a cost of doing business, and not one that many of us can afford.A few days ago I did a reverse image search on one of my most frequently infringed images. I found that one single image of mine was being used without permission on 35 different websites. Of those 35 websites, 14 were large companies. At a low average of $2000 per infringement, that is $28,000 in potential licensing fees. Were I to recover even half of that $28,000, it would make a huge difference in my bottom line. For perspective, I make on average between $60,000 and $90,000 a year. As you can see, control of my work is as extremely important part of my financial health.I have heard it said that a right without a remedy isn’t truly a right. Independent creators are in exactly this position; unable to consistently enforce a right that has long been granted to us. What we are asking for is an accessible and level playing field in which to bring these potential infringements before a third party. The CASE Act is our best shot at ensuring that visual artists for the first time will be full participants in the copyright marketplace. I respectfully ask for your support of this bill, which identifies a real world problem of dramatic impact to my community and provides a much-needed solution. Regards, Jenna Close Past-Chair, ASMP National BoardDirector of Photography @ Buck the Cubicle ................
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