Report on Orphan Works

The US Copyright Office has released the report of its inquiry into “orphan works” (that is, copyright material for which a copyright owner cannot be located or identified).

The Office has recommended that limitations be placed on the remedies that can be awarded in infringement actions where the infringing user can show that a “reasonably diligent” search for the copyright owner was undertaken, and provided that, generally, attribution is given both to the relevant creator and copyright owner.

The principal limitations on remedies recommended by the Office relate to:

- monetary relief (with a general limit on monetary relief to ‘reasonable compensation for the use’, but with no monetary relief where the use is non-commercial and the infringement ceased expediently upon notice); and
- limits on injunctive relief where the work has been incorporated as part of a derivative work.