Digital Watermarking Alliance Publishes White Paper Proposing Solution to Orphan Works Issue
The Digital Watermarking Alliance (DWA), an international group of industry leading companies involved in commercializing digital watermarking solutions, recently published a white paper proposing policy makers consider facilitating the adoption of technologies, such as digital watermarking, to address the challenge of orphan works and copyright owner identification.
Today, a large number of “orphan works”–presumably copyrighted works whose owners cannot be identified or located–exists. Typically, such works are excerpts or newly digitized versions of books, movies, photos, and music whose ownership information has been stripped away or lost during distribution, re-formatting or editing. Unfortunately for those individuals and organizations seeking permission to use such works, much of this rich material ends up left untouched due to liability issues surrounding unspecified ownership.
Published by the DWA, the white paper proposes that policymakers consider facilitating the adoption of technologies, such as digital watermarking, to address the challenge of orphan works and copyright owner identification. Digital watermarks are available and widely deployed today and can help speed and facilitate deployment of online digital content by enabling identification of copyrighted content, facilitating rights management policy, and enhancing consumer experiences.
Event Update
DWA representatives discussed policy recommendations, as well as provided an overview of how digital watermarking can address many of the digital content distribution issues currently facing the entertainment industry, at two events earlier this week:
- U.S. House Entertainment Industries Caucus luncheon
Monday, 05 February 2007
Washington, DC
- DCIA P2P Media Summit NY
Tuesday, 06 February 2007
New York City, NY
Additional Resources
Report on Orphan Works
January 2006 | U.S. Copyright Office
As requested by Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Patrick Leahy, the Copyright Office submitted its Report on Orphan Works to the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 31, 2006.
Orphan Works
Wikipedia