Some may have noticed the increase in journals regarding the topic of Orphan Works. As the Director of Artist Relations and also an artist, I sought out some verification from our legal advisers to make sense of what was going on. While the general tone is of panic and anger in the journals and news articles I've read on the site - it is important to point out that the legislature is not trying to justify or legalize art theft.

Before the panic continues I ask that you read this and inform yourself.

Orphaned works are copyrighted works for which the author/owner cannot be found either by searching the registrations on file at the Copyright Office or by typical research tactics such as library collections and Google.

The orphaned works problem is relatively new in the United States because until a change in law thirty years ago, you had to register a work for copyright protection and renew the registration after 28 years to continue protection. As result, there was a ready method to identify the responsible person to contact for the use of the work and, as well, many inconsequential works would fall into the public domain either because they were published without registration or notice or because the renewal wasn’t obtained. Since 1976, copyright protection is automatic, no renewal is required, no copyright notice is required, protection lasts for as much as the life of the author plus 70 years and no registration is required (unless you want to start a lawsuit). As a result, there are millions of copyrighted works out there where the author is both unknown and essentially unknowable (very cosmic).

These orphaned works are still, however, works that some would like to use and they would like to use them without fear of the huge penalties that are available for infringement and would be available to any author rising from his or her own ashes to claim the infringement of the work. Proposals for orphaned works legislation focus on what the price should be for using one of these works after a diligent search was conducted and failed to find the author/owner. The legislation is not an attempt to “take away the copyright.” All such proposed legislation provides for and even encourages the reclamation of the work and its copyright by the author/owner (and their respective successors).

Here is a link to the United States Copyright Office’s latest view on Orphaned Works: [link]




- I've been a REALLY good girl!




Calculations: Subtract 1 point for negatives and Add 1 for positives




Tally
January - 414 points
February - 484 points
March - 528 points


April 1 - 12 - (fell behind due to illness but my written tally has combined 15 points to this date)
543 points