The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have each introduced versions of an "orphan works" bill this April. Orphan works are created compositions that are copyrighted but for which it is difficult to locate the copyright owner or the owner is unknown.

The Copyright Office has attempted to make orphan works public domain for many artists and institutions. In 2006, a similar bill was introduced but was highly unpopular with many groups and was later withdrawn.

Both new proposals would require the creation of an extensive public database of current works before either bill could become law, a feature lacking in...

The same day that Getty Images announced that it had accepted a $2.4 billion buyout by private-equity firm Hellman & Friedman, shareholders filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that the stock agency had not looked after their interests and had accepted an undervalued bid.

The long-rumored deal, worth $34 per share, was confirmed on Feb. 25 and is expected to close in the second or third quarter of this year. The merger has been approved by Getty's board of directors, it was still subject to shareholder approval at press time.

Securities and Exchange Commission filings for the transaction indicate that Getty had left room for better offers. Bids well over $40 per share had been tendered by other parties, but in settling with Hellman & Friedman, Getty had to take into account...

Sotheby's reported record bids for its photography sales in New York on April 7 and 8. All three auctions on the block during the two-day period exceeded estimates, for a total of more than $17.3 million.

Twenty-five artists were represented in the works at auction, including record-setting sales for Diane Arbus, Paul Strand and Edward Weston. According to Denise Bethel, director of Sotheby's photographs department, only 26 of 300 lots did not sell.

The April 7 evening sale of the Quillan Collection of 19th and 20th century photographs spotlighted 68 unique images dating from 1847 to...

With the market moving toward digital photography, two Puget Sound-area photography companies, Ivey Photo of Seattle and Abolins AV Photographic of Tacoma, went out of business this summer. Ivey closed June 30 after operating for more than three decades; Abolins shut its doors after nearly 40 years in business.

Portland-based Ivey Imaging, the parent company of Ivey Photos, will retain a Seattle sales office. Originally Ivey-Seright, the company began with custom black-and-white processing and grew to become one of the nation's largest professional photofinishing companies.

Much of Ivey Photo's equipment, including...

The Brooks Institute of Photography has announced that Leica Cameras will sponsor its 2008 documentary trip for students of the Visual Journalism program. Leica will provide training for the students before they depart on their trip, as well as Leica M8 digital rangefinder cameras and various interchangeable Leica M lenses.

Visual Journalism instructor Paul Myers will accompany 26 students on a seven-week journey through Southern India from November to December 2008 to chronicle the cultures of the region...

The Annenberg Foundation will open a free 10,000-square-foot gallery space in Los Angeles next to its administrative office on the Avenue of the Stars. The Annenberg Space for Photography will open in the spring of 2009 with a group show by eight Los Angeles-based photographers.

The space will feature a new digital projection gallery along with a traditional print exhibit area. Once the facility opens, thousands of photographs will be readily accessible to the public in large, high-resolution formats. The original inspiration for the space came from the foundation's vice president and trustee, Wallis Annenberg, whose personal devotion to traditional gallery and museum photography led him to create this new, high-tech paradigm for presenting images to the public...

The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) received a $1.3 million royalty distribution from the Authors Coalition in December 2007, the largest such payout to date.

The Authors Coalition of America, founded in 1994, redistributes royalties on non-title-specific works that are photocopied abroad.

Unlike the United States, many European countries have created a tax on photocopying. International reprographic rights organizations funnel these funds through the Authors Coalition, which, in turn, distributes payments to its member organizations...

For Los Angeles photographer Jill Greenberg, the fallout continues from her controversial photo session with Sen. John McCain for an Atlantic Monthly magazine cover story.

After posting several unflattering and digitally doctored outtakes from the session on her website (manipulator.com) that lampooned McCain as a monster and a sexist, Greenberg has endured a firestorm of criticism from many colleagues in the photo industry for being misleading and unprofessional...

Photo agency Corbis says it will be cutting approximately 16 percent of its staff over the next year. The move, which will involve 175 layoffs, will reduce the company's size to about 900 employees.

Two of the highest-level executives who will be leaving the company are senior vice president Adam Brotman, who had launched Corbis' microstock site SnapVillage, and chief creative officer Ross Sutherland.

According to Corbis, the layoffs are part of consolidation efforts to remove role duplication between itself and Veer, a competitor that it acquired in 2007. Corbis had previously cut 285 jobs through layoffs in 2007...

A new bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives this July that would allow media access to the funeral ceremonies for members of the armed services who have died on active duty.

The Fallen Hero Commemoration Act, H.R. 6662, was introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and has gained the support of press organizations including the National Press Photographers Association and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

If the bill goes into effect, the Department of Defense would be required to give journalists access to ceremonies of soldiers killed in action, ending the ban that has been in place since the 1991 Persian Gulf War...