http://www.orphanworks.org/

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 before the *March 25th* deadline. Click on the link below
to submit comments directly to the Copyright Office - you type, and
we'll take care of the formatting and submission.

Write to the Copyright Office today - and don't forget to spread the
word. If your friends or colleagues are academics, designers,
filmmakers, writers, or artists,
it's likely that this problem affects them!

http://www.orphanworks.org/

Cheers,
Beatrice Murch

Executive Assistant - Development Coordinator
Internet Archive
www.archive.org