| Orphan works are the works which is still in copyright protection, and the userintends to have the permission of the copyright owners to use them legally, but stillcannot find the copyright owners with diligent efforts. In the case, the user eitherabandon the use of these works, or infringing uses. Orphan works cannot be used isactually a waste of social resources, this issue has caused widespread concern in theworld. The most representative of the bills which are the United States’ and theEuropean Union’s.The greatest feature of the2008American Bill of Orphan works is that the userswho cannot obtain the lawful license are infringers. On this basis, allowing the users touse Orphan works, and copyright’s remedies shall be limited, including monetary reliefand injunction relief. This way of protection has been accepted and adopted by most ofcountries, but more countries think that as long as the users find the copyright ownerswith diligent efforts and apply with the provisions of existing laws, then the users arenot infringement. Compared with the United States, the European Union’s solutionway----ARROW combines method proposed by EU, although shares the features of theformer both, may only be applied to the situation of work digitalization for preservation.After compare with many countries’ system, it is believed in this article thatChinese legal system for orphan works may consider the American method to limit therights holders’ remedies. The copyright owners’ interests shall be concerned to keepbalance, we shall not consider that using Orphan works is illegal. The will-be user shallperform sever prior obligations: diligent research, recording the using information in thecollective organizations, providing certain deposits. Those obligations are set to ensurethe bona fide of users and protect the interests of right holders. Meanwhile, we needencourage copyright owners to register more actively and improve the database ofcopyright owners’ information to reduce the number of the orphan work. |
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