Digital copyright exchange could be used to provide legal access to ‘orphan works’

A ‘copyright hub’ could serve as a resource for finding the owners of publications for which the author is unknown, a report submitted to the Intellectual Property Office has said.

At the moment, such ‘orphan works’ can only be used if a “diligent search” for the authors has taken place and approval has been sought from an independent authorising body. The report, which assesses the feasibility of creating a digital copyright exchange, recommends the hub as a place where users could demonstrate they had done sufficient searches.