Orphan Works: A Public Problem Requiring Private Solutions

Cox Comments on Orphan Works

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CEI filed comments with the U.S. Copyright Office on how the market can help solve orphan works problems. “Orphan works” are artistic works still under copyright but whose owner cannot be identified. For legal and prohibitive cost reasons, these works are not able to be used and society loses out on their creative utilization. Competiting copyright registries, similar to that for Internet domain names, could help provide incentives for the registration of works, especially digital works.