From DiscoverWorks.org

Orphan Works

What is an orphan work?

The phrase “orphan works” is typically used to describe works that may be protected by copyright, but the copyright holder is either unknown or cannot be found.

Many works published from 1923 may still be under copyright, and most works published from 1978 onward are protected by copyright, with some well-known exceptions such as works of the Federal government. But many of those works, even if known to be protected by copyright, do not carry with them the information necessary to identify the rightsholder (e.g. creator, estate, or publisher) from whom permission may be obtained for use. After the US accepted the Berne Copyright Convention in 1988 and removed such “technicalities” as the requirement of a copyright notice and registration, many more potentially “orphaned” works have come into being. Both potential users of such works and creators etc. of potentially orphaned works have reason and motivation to be concerned with the risks of unauthorized use, and with accurate attribution, and, when appropriate, fair compensation of a rightsholder whose work is still under copyright.

DiscoverWorks is an effort to address this problem by creating a central place where everyone can find and share rights information and other useful details on all kinds of copyrighted material.

References:

• Copyright Office OW study, Final Report, Jan 2006 [1]

• ALPSP “Safe Harbor” guidelines, Aug 2007 [2]