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Amendment to the Copyright Act reply letter from Durbin
Dear Mr. Smith:
Thank you for contacting me regarding potential amendments to the
Copyright Act to address the status of orphan works. I appreciate hearing
from you on this issue.
In January 2006, the U.S. Copyright Office presented a study of problems
related to orphan works, which are copyrighted works whose owners may be
impossible to identify and locate. Observers had expressed concern that
the uncertainty surrounding the ownership of such works might discourage
creators and users from incorporating such works in new creative efforts,
or from making such works available to the public. The Copyright Office
recommended legislative reforms that would ensure that if a subsequent
user has performed a reasonably diligent search for the copyright owner
but was unable to locate that owner, limits would then be placed on the
remedies that a copyright owner could obtain against the user if the owner
appeared at a later date and sued for infringement. Critics have argued
that these recommended changes will deprive copyright holders of
protections, particularly for works such as photographs which may be
difficult to attribute to a copyright holder.
It is important that we consider legislative proposals that create an
opportunity for orphan works to be used for social and cultural
enrichment. At the same time, we must work to ensure that such
legislation does not inappropriately harm the creators of such works who
hold copyrights. There are currently no bills in the Senate that address
the status of orphan works, but I will keep your views in mind in case
such legislation comes before us.
Thank you again for your message.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
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