An Overview of the Orphan Works
Directive and the Orphan Works Database
Directive
2012/28/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on
certain permitted uses of orphan works outlines common rules on the digitisation
and online display of orphan works. According to Article 3(6) of the Directive
2012/28/EU, the European Union Intellectual Property Office, commonly
referred to as EUIPO, is responsible for launching and managing a publicly
accessible online database on orphan works. In fact, the Orphan Works Database
was launched by the EUIPO in October 2014.
More
information on the Orphan Works Directive and on the relevant national
legislation can be accessed through the following links.
European Commission’s
Website:
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/orphan_works/index_en.htm
Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local
Government’s Website:
http://justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=12255&l=1
What
are Orphan Works?
Orphan
works are works like books, newspaper and magazine articles and films that are
still protected by copyright but whose authors or rightholders are not known or
cannot be located or contacted to obtain copyright permission. Orphan works are
part of the collections held by European libraries that might remain untouched
without common rules to make their digitisation and online display legally
possible.
The
Orphan Works Database
The
Orphan Works Database is an EU-wide database which provides access to orphan
works records. This database is accessible for beneficiary organisation,
rightholders and the general public.
This
database comprises details pertaining to orphan works which are part of
collections of publicly accessible libraries, education establishments and
museums, archives, film or audio heritage institutions, and public-service
broadcasting organisations established within Member States. Other information
obtained from the database entails entities which want to make use of orphan
works, the projects in which the works will be used, etc.
The
database serves as a means of assisting beneficiary organisations which intend
to make use of orphan works in digitisation projects, by permitting them to access
relevant information about such works. Beneficiary organisations can conduct
diligent searches and identify works as being orphan through the database. These
entities can forward information about orphan works to EUIPO via the competent national
authority of each respective Member State. In the case of Malta, the Industrial
Property Registrations Directorate within the Commerce Department is the
competent national authority. In turn, once EUIPO receives the forwarded
information, details about the orphan works would become available in the
database.
Works
which are accessible in the database have to be first published or broadcasted
in EU Member States, and examples of such works entail:
- Printed Material such as
books, journals, newspapers, magazines or other writings;
- Cinematographic or
audiovisual works and phonograms;
- Unpublished works under
certain conditions;
- Embedded or incorporated works
in other works or phonograms such as pictures and photographs;
- Partial orphan works, i.e.
those works whose rightholders have been identified or located and have
granted permission to use their works in connection with the rights they
hold.
Rightholders
and potential rightholders can effortlessly access information about orphan
works and can also put an end to the orphan work status by contacting the beneficiary
organisations which are using their works and in turn claim their rights in
such works. Moreover, the database has a critical role in preventing and
abolishing possible copyright infringements.
The
Orphan Works Database can be accessed through the following link:
https://euipo.europa.eu/orphanworks/
For assistance or further information on the
use of the Orphan Works Database, kindly contact the EUIPO on observatory.orphanworks@euipo.europa.eu.