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 [log in to unmask]