We are having an orphan works event Friday. So far my colleagues "take" on this has been that the Copyright Office is faced with a tough problem, and their solution was a reasonable one. But I am doing my best to think of some good questions for the panel...

Here are a couple of things I intend to ask:

1) Would it not be fairly easy to generate a record of frenetic but not productive activity that would convince on objective party that you have made a "reasonable search" for the author but, in fact, you deliberately overlooked some promising leads? You made 50 phone calls, but neglected to make just one more...

2) The default rule that orphan works just are lost to history helps current creators who have made themselves easy to find. Now, do they have to compete with a HUGE pool of works available in effect for free? Before, a botanical illustrator working in 2006 had to compete with other current botanical illustrators. Now, aren't they competing with every botanical illustration ever made, particularly those for whom it is clear that there is no hope in heck that a copyright holder will come forward and which are thus free to users? Have we harmed the market for current creators?

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 11:35 AM | Access: Commons, Fair Use, Orphan Works, Public Domain, Art, Legislation and Legislators

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