© Michael Weschler
Our Mission
Engaging with U.S. policymakers remains essential for protecting both the integrity of ASCRL members’ assets and our members’ ability to reap maximum royalties from their works. In recent years, ASCRL has solidified its position as a prominent player in Washington, DC, wielding influence comparable to the largest corporations and trade associations.
Without ASCRL’s representation in policy-making discussions, there is a significant risk that decisions would be made by policymakers and competitors in ways that do not serve ASCRL or it's members' interests. To achieve its full potential, ASCRL must ensure its voice is heard in Congress, before Federal agencies, and within key decision-making arenas. This practice engagement allows ASCRL to advocate directly for the interests and goals of its members, ensuring they are not left behind in critical deliberations.
Empowering visual creators.
Our Goals
ASCRL’s advocacy goals are centered on expanding the remuneration systems available to photographers, illustrators, and other visual artists in markets which they cannot effectively monetize on their own through direct licensing.
First, ASCRL has developed and operates an advanced distribution system through which visual artists are paid millions of dollars each year from international collective licensing systems – systems which provide proven models for US collective licensing initiatives.
Second, ASCRL is committed to promoting legislation to permit the establishment of collective licensing models that remunerate creators, reduce legal uncertainty, and enable responsible technological progress. ASCRL’s focus is on the collective licensing of visual material in three main areas: uses within confined educational systems, internal business uses that typically go unlicensed, and in generative artificial intelligence.
These goals are aimed at providing photographers, illustrators, and other visual artists with a sustainable and fair economy as a supplement to the primary copyright markets that they can effectively monetize on their own.
Our Advocacy
To advance its core policy goals, ASCRL engages directly with key policymakers in the Administration, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives. By building relationships and sharing the real-world impact of policy decisions on its members, ASCRL has helped shape the national dialogue around copyright protection and promotion of collective licensing. This sustained advocacy has contributed to several significant policy developments.
The bill would require generative AI platforms to submit a notice to the Register of Copyrights prior to the release of a new generative AI system, providing a summary of the copyrighted works which were used in either building or altering the training dataset.
The bill would address concerns raised by the proliferation of AI-generated deep fakes by directing the development of standards for identifying and labeling AI-generated content.
We wrote in our comment letter that it is critical that US photographers, illustrators, and designers maintain control of their constitutional right “to copy” their creations.
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