Copyright Office issued proposed regulations on solutions to "orphaned works"
The Copyright Office issued proposed regulations regarding whether there should be a legislative, regulatory, or other solutions to the copyright problems raised by "orphaned works." A work becomes "orphaned" when its copyright owner becomes difficult or impossible to locate. It is not surprising that works frequently become orphaned because an individual author has copyright protection for his or her life plus 70 years. Individuals who want to use orphaned works often become discouraged from doing so because of the time and the expense of trying to find the copyright owner and the risk of violating the copyright if no owner is found and the work is used. The Copyright Office requested comments on the problems subsequent creators and users face in getting permission to use orphaned works, how orphaned works should be defined, whether a certain amount of time should lapse that would make a work eligible for orphan status, whether the status of orphaned works should apply to published and unpublished work, and what should be the effects of being designated "orphaned." Comments were due by May 9, 2005, and the Copyright Office subsequently held two public roundtable discussions of comments received. COSA members and NSBA National Affiliate school district board members and employees may access an overview of "What Every School Administrator Should Know About Intellectual Property," below.
70 Fed. Reg. 3,739 (Jan. 26, 2005)
[Copyright Office Notice of Inquiry]70 Fed. Reg. 39,341 (July 7, 2005)
[Copyright Office Notice of public roundtables]School Law in ReviewBy Rebecca Stroder
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