Breakthrough Gives EU Principles For Digitising Out-Of-Print Books | Intellectual Property Watch

"Key European stakeholders have approved a “ground-breaking” set of principles for digitising and making publicly available out-of-print books and journals. The accord could serve as a template for dealing with the vexing problem of orphan works, those for whom the copyright owner cannot be found, according to International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations CEO Olav Stokkmo....The memorandum of understanding (MoU) [pdf] is considered first-of-its-kind because it deals with out-of-commerce works, and enjoys the participation of all relevant stakeholders, Stokkmo said in an interview. It defines an out-of-commerce work as one which, in all its versions and manifestations, is no longer commercially available from customary channels, regardless of whether there are copies in libraries or second-hand bookshops. European library Europeana and its national counterparts want to digitise such content but cannot do so until common ground is found with rights holders, he said. Last November, the European Commission asked authors, publishers, the IFRRO and other interested parties to come up with agreed criteria for digitising and making available on Europeana out-of-commerce works, he said....The initiative envisions the use of the EU-funded Accessible Registries of Rights Information and Orphan Works (ARROW) system to search for included and excluded works...."