Donna Wentworth sez,
When you can't find copyright holders, copyright becomes a quagmire. Let's fix it. For designers, academics, artists, musicians, and filmmakers, using copyrighted works can be a huge headache. It can be impossible to find out if a particular work is still under copyright or not. And even when people would happily pay to use a copyrighted photo, passage, or video clip, it's often impossible (or extremely costly) to find the copyright holder. When this happens, everybody loses. Artists can't realize their creative vision, academics can't clearly communicate their ideas, and copyright holders don't get paid. Even worse, important pieces of our culture get needlessly locked away.
Right now, the US Copyright Office is asking for public comment on the "orphan works" problem, so now's our chance to make the system work better. The Copyright Office has specifically asked for comments from people who have run up against the problem of trying to clear a potentially copyrighted work — either for use in a new creative effort or simply to make the work available to the public once again.
If you have a story like this, it's essential you make your voice heard. Use the form on your right to submit comments directly to the Copyright Office — you type, and we'll take care of the formatting and submission.
