Free your Orphans: Managing orphan works risk in archives | TownsWeb Archiving | TownsWeb Archiving

"An archivist wants to share an image from their archives online. What are the implications of copyright law? The standard answer: either the image is out of copyright and can be used freely, or it is in copyright and can be used only if the rights are held by the archive or with the permission of the rights holder. But wait! When it comes to archives, copyright law doesn’t fit into this neat binary structure. Things are much, much more complicated. Why? Copyright law has taken shape over hundreds of years, and its implications in the real world only emerge via case law. The duration of copyright, who owns it, and what others can do with the material; varies by format and many other factors. If this is new to you, I recommend Tim Padfield’s (2015) book “Copyright for Archivists and Record Managers.” This complexity means our archivist may be trying to impose the in/out structure on something that is far messier. They may not even be sure whether the material they wish to use is in or out of copyright. At the heart of the difficulties are the orphan works…"