Orphan Works

DIGITISATION OF
CULTURAL MATERIAL,
DIGITAL LIBRARIES AND
COPYRIGHT
Spanish National Library,
Ministry of Culture, Spain
April 12 and 13, Madrid
C. Trevor Clarke
Assistant Director General
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Orphan and Out-of-Print Works:
Size of the Problem
Overview
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Orphan Works in Numbers
Some Causes of the Problem
The Range of Difficulties
WIPO´S Involvement.
Orphan Works in Numbers
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A Sample of Findings:
- 40% percent of all print works are
orphan (British Library)
- The number of orphan print works
published in the US is estimated at 25%.
(Personanondata blog)
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The problem is elusive to quantify and describe
comprehensibly (2006 US Report on Orphan
Works).
Some Causes of the Problem
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Inadequate information on the work:
- No name of the author
- No copyright notice
- (retaining paper records for 70 years!)
- No title
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Company Changes
- Transfer of rights: merger, closure
Some Causes of the Problem
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People Changes:
- Death of the copyright owner
- Rights fractionally distributed
The Range of Difficulties
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Different types of works affected differently:
The problem is worse for visual arts, specially in
photographs.
Manuscripts and unpublished works are also
greatly affected.
Large amounts of unidentified content circulate
over the Internet but digital tools such as Rights
Management Information are key to solve the
problem. “The answer to the machine is in the
machine” (Clark).
The Range of Difficulties
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Orphan works and Out of Print Works.
The problem of orphan works is linked to the
larger issue of availability of creative content:
- Out of print and works not exploited
commercially are more likely to remain
orphan.
- Digital technology is a driver of accessibility
and a facilitator of long tail business models.
The Range of Difficulties
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Limitations of Existing Information Resources
and Difficulties in the Search
- Government resources: Voluntary
Registration Systems and Legal Deposit.
- Non-Government resources. CMOs; private
registries, escrow; catalogues, search
engines, portals, databases, etc.
The Range of Difficulties
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Not all existing information is publicly available
or easily searchable.
Some factors that presents difficulties in the
search of information:
- Lack of Standardization
- Lack of Accuracy
- Lack of compatibility between different data
sources
- Lack of Automation
WIPO´s Involvement
Administration of the Berne Convention:
- In case of anonymous and pseudonymous
works where there is doubt in regard to the
identity of the author, publisher shall be
deemed to represent the author (15.3)
- In case of unpublished works of unknown
author but where there is every ground to
presume a given nationality, legislation in that
country may designate an authority to
represent the author (15.4).
WIPO´s Involvement
Standing Committee
- Under Future Work, the EU, supported
by the US, proposed that an exchange of
information at the international level
would be a very useful exercise – and
especially so in the cross-border effects
of digitization activities (SCCR 17/4,
November 2008)
WIPO’s Involvement
Development Agenda (DA)
• One Thematic Project is closely linked to
Orphan Works.
- IP and the Public Domain
DA Rec. 16 – Preservation and accessibility
of the public domain
- DA Rec. 20 – Preparation of guidelines to
assist Member states too identify what is in
the public domain within their respective
jurisdictions.
WIPO´s Involvement
(1)
Thematic Project: Survey on Voluntary
Registration and Deposit Systems
The new survey would expand on the
2005 Survey in at least four different
respects - one of which deals with
orphan works.
WIPO´s Involvement
This new Survey on Voluntary Registration is
based on a Questionnaire, which is available on
our website.
It contains a number of key questions on orphan
works and represents the first worldwide public
fact-finding exercise on this issue.
The responses are due before the end of April.
WIPO´s Involvement
(2)
Thematic Project: Survey on Private
Copyright Documentation Systems and
Practices
- To investigate how existing documentation
systems identify whether content is/not
protected, is/not in the public domain.
- To discover what legislation or industry
practices aimed at identifying the copyright
owner of orphan works.
WIPO´s Involvement
(3) Conference on copyright documentation and
infrastructure (4th quarter of 2011)
- To present the results of the two
Surveys.
WIPO´s Involvement
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The problem is really global in scope and will
eventually require a global solution.
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The commitment of the EU and others to
address the issue is encouraging for other
WIPO Member States to get involved.
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Hope all will support this Future Work.
Thank you
WIPO Copyright Sector
http://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/