Orphan Works Proposals Moving Quickly Through Congress

摘要

Nearly 16 months after an orphan works proposal died at the end of the 2005-2006 congressional session, two new proposals have been introduced and are moving rapidly through Congress. Between April and early May, the proposals (one in the House and one in the Senate) were introduced, marked up, and hustled through their respective committees. Orphan works are those creative works where the copyright owner cannot be identified or located, or it cannot be determined if the work is copyrighted. Any new use of orphan works as part of a new work (an archive of old photos or a website featuring collections of letters) runs the risk of the copyright owner emerging and suing for thousands of dollars for infringement damages. With the web established as a tool for disseminating works that might otherwise be lost to time, Congress recognized the need to resolve the problem.