The US Copyright office wants to know how the public feels about Orphan Works. If you go to this website: http://eldred.cc/ you can get the whole story and some feedback from other people. “Orphan works are — broadly speaking — any copyrighted works where the rights holder is hard to find.” There are several reasons for this including plain and simple abandonment of work. It would be a shame for someone’s creativity to be forever lost just because they could not find the right person to ask permission to use something. I would be honored and thrilled to have something that I started writing, just for example, and could not finish be used for the work of someone else and put out there for others to enjoy. I think many artists, directors, writers, and photographers alike would feel the same way. I had never really thought about this until about two minutes ago when I stumbled across this advocacy site and learned what Orphan Works are. Will I publicly give my input on the matter outside of this blog? Unfortunately, probably not. But, if this does interest anyone enough you can go to this website to let the US Copyright office know how you feel. Orphanworks.org
