Last Updated on September 14, 2011, 2:33 pm ET
View or download the PDF HERE.
Late yesterday the Association of Research Libraries released a Resource Packet on Orphan Works: Legal and Policy Issues for Research Libraries. Prepared by Prudence Adler (ARL), Jonathan Band (policybandwidth), and Brandon Butler (ARL), the packet provides information concerning orphan works, the University of Michigan’s Orphan Works Project, an FAQ on orphan works, and a legal memorandum by Band describing the legal issues associated with making orphan works digitally available. While not a comprehensive response to or analysis of the lawsuit filed yesterday by three authors’ groups and eight individual authors against HathiTrust and five of its partners, this packet will help readers understand some of the core issues in that suit, including the scope and applicability of fair use to orphan works. Of particular interest may be the Appendix to Band’s analysis, which refutes the Authors Guild’s bizarre claim that libraries must confine themselves to activities permitted by Section 108, and cannot use fair use rights.
