Congress Moves Forward on Orphan Works Legislation

On May 15th, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed S. 2913, the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008, and the House Judiciary Committee is soon to follow suit with their version of the legislation – H.R. 5889, the Orphan Works Act of 2008. Orphan works are copyrighted works whose owner cannot be located; the use of these works is impinged by the fear that users will subject themselves to copyright infringement claims from the original creator. Both of these bills would amend titles 17 and 18 and the Trademark Act of 1946 to provide increased protection of Orphan Works. The bills would limit judicial remedies in copyright infringement cases involving orphan works; define reasonable compensation as well as what constitutes a “diligent effort” to find the owner of an orphan work; and create a database of pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works overseen by the Registrar of Copyrights.