From: Dave Hansen <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:54:05 -0800

White Paper on Orphan Works and Who Participates in the Diligent
Search for Rightsholders - Berkeley Digital Library Copyright Project

I thought some on this list might have an interest in our recent paper in
orphan works/mass digitization related issues:

The Berkeley Digital Library Copyright Project has released the latest white
paper in its series on orphan works, titled "Orphan Works and the Search for
Rightsholders: Who Participates in a 'Diligent Search' Under Present and
Proposed Regimes?" The paper is available here:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2208163.

This paper reviews the existing set of orphan works proposals from around
the world and explains that, within the current set of approaches, one
commonality is that most proposals require at least one party to search for
rightsholders. Who that party is makes a difference in terms of their
motivation, expertise, and ability to search. As policy makers consider
these approaches, they should recognize that more research is needed to
understand the relative costs and benefits of allocating search
responsibility to different parties.

As many of you know by following the Berkeley team's work on orphan works
and mass digitization and by attending our symposium on this topic last
April (http://www.law.berkeley.edu/orphanworks.htm ), orphan works--i.e.,
works whose owners cannot be located--pose a major obstacle to libraries,
archives and similar organizations that seek to digitize and make these
works available online.

In continuing our work to address the orphan works problem, we have begun to
develop a series of white papers that explain the ways that proposed orphan
works regimes approach "diligent search." The search for rightsholders is a
central component of most orphan works proposals, yet they approach diligent
search very differently in terms of who is required to undertake the search
for rightsholders of potentially orphaned works, how extensive those
searches must be, and what types of resources or tools searchers should look
to.  The paper linked to above focuses on the question "who must participate
in a search for rightsholders?" A subsequent paper will focus on the nature
and extent of required searches, and what resources, tools, registries or
other information sharing tools are required or allowed.

For more information about the Berkeley Digital Library Copyright Project,
see http://www.law.berkeley.edu/12040.htm.
-----
David R. Hansen
Digital Library Fellow
Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic
UC Berkeley School of Law
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