For Great Justice: Towards Flexible and Fair Orphan Works Laws for the Digital Economy

Copyright has been subjected to robust challenge by the rise of digital technology and the internet, and within copyright law, one of the most pressing problems is the status of orphan works: in-copyright works whose authors cannot be found. This paper surveys international laws dealing with orphan works, both extant and proposed, discusses models for diligent searches for rights holders, canvasses problems associated with those rights holders’ re-emergence, and proposes a number of minor and major reforms aimed at resolving the orphan works problem