On December 3, 2012, the ABA Committee on Copyright Policy will host a webinar on the topic of orphan works, entitled “The Orphan Works Problem: Recent Developments, Proposed Legislation, and Alternative Solutions.” The program will examine the history of the problem surrounding works whose copyright owners are unknown, including various attempts at enacting legislative solutions in the United States in the past and the current efforts by the United States Copyright Office and the European Commission to draft legislation and directives allowing for limited use of orphan works.
From the program description: “The orphan works problem is generally defined as the situation where the owner of a copyrighted work cannot be located by someone who wishes to make use of the work in a manner that requires permission. Given recent and contentious efforts to enable mass digitization and large-scale digital access and reuse of these works, this session will explore the renewed interest and recent work in both the United States and abroad that is aimed toward developing legislative and other solutions to the orphan works problem.”
Speakers to include Karyn Temple Clagget from the U.S. Copyright Office, Marco Giorello from the European Commission, and Kevin Smith from Duke University Libraries.
