Testimony to House Subcommittee (3/13/08)

Orphan Works Act of 2008 (4/24/08)

Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 (4/24/08)

Final Report: Full Report with Appendices
(Jan. 2006)  

Main Text (no Appendices)

Notice of Inquiry (1/26/05)   

Initial Comments

Reply Comments

Notice of Public Roundtables (7/7/05)
  

Roundtable Transcripts: (7/26/05) Washington, DC   

(7/27/05), Washington, D.C.

(8/2/05) Berkeley, Calif.

Roundtable Audio Recordings (8/2/05) Berkeley, Calif.
Part 1, Part 2,
Part 3, Part 4,
Part 5

Testimony to House Subcommittee (3/8/06)

Testimony to Senate Subcommittee (4/6/06)

Orphan Works Act of 2006 H.R. 5439 (5/22/06)

The Copyright Office has completed its study of problems related to “orphan works”—copyrighted works whose owners may be impossible to identify and locate. As requested by Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Patrick Leahy, the Office submitted its Report on Orphan Works to the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 31, 2006. The Report is also available for download on this page in two versions, the Full Report with Appendices, and the Main Text (no appendices).

To download and print the Report on Orphan Works, use the links in the text above, or the links in the left column of this page. The Full Text with Appendices is approximately 200 pages, while the Main Text is approximately 130 pages. When printing the report, we suggest using a printer that allows double-sided pages to be printed.

Background

During 2005, the Copyright Office studied issues raised by “orphan works”— copyrighted works whose owners may be impossible to identify and locate. Concerns had been raised that the uncertainty surrounding ownership of such works might needlessly discourage subsequent creators and users from incorporating such works in new creative efforts, or from making such works available to the public.

The Office issued a Federal Register Notice summarizing issues raised by orphan works, and soliciting written comments from all interested parties. The Office asked specifically whether there were compelling concerns raised by orphan works that merit a legislative, regulatory, or other solution, and if so, what type of solution could effectively address these concerns without conflicting with the legitimate interests of authors and right holders. Initial comments received were posted here. Reply comments received were posted here.

The Office also hosted public roundtable discussions on orphan works in Washington, D.C., on July 26 and 27, 2005, and in Berkeley, California, on August 2, 2005. Transcripts of the roundtables were posted available on this website (see left column). Additionally, audio recordings of the Berkeley, California roundtable are available as well.

The Office also hosted several informal meetings with various parties in late 2005 to address issues in further detail.