UPDATE : May 20th – Lawrence Lessing has a must read op-ed on the issue in the New York Times titled “Little Orphan Artworks”
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In the copyright world ‘orphans’ refer to all the books, films, pieces of art etc. that are banished to the storage rooms of museums and libraries across the country because their creators cannot be found.
There are literally millions of items that go unprocessed because the places that house the material are afraid of being sued. With potential fines upward of $150,000 per item it is safe to say they will go unprocessed for a long time unless the copyright law changes. The digitization train is simply passing them by. A measurable part of our material culture is locked away for fear of litigation. Most institutions have conducted exhaustive searches to try track down the owners, but for pretty much all of these orphans the owners cannot be found.
Both the Senate and the House have introduced legislation that address this travesty. Both are considerate of each party and provide for compensation if the owner ever turns up.
Julie Mellby at Princeton University’s Graphic Arts blog posts a copy of the letter she sent in support of H.R. 5889 : The Orphan Works Act of 2008. It’s a good one and points out some of the not so good restrictions that infest the resolution.
There is a sane solution.
Let’s keep the pork and politics out of it and do what is necessary to guarantee the public free access to this treasure trove of material culture while supporting, if they are ever found, the creators.
pdf of the The Orphan Works Act of 2008
Post at O’Reilly’s Tools of Change blog with some good links