Creative Commons, EFF Write Letter Expressing Concerns Impact TPP May Have on Orphan Works

Creative Commons and the Electronic Frontier Foundation were two of five groups that wrote a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman Monday asking that the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement “not include measures restricting adoption of the Copyright Office’s recent proposals regarding orphan works.” Orphan works are books, articles, photos, recordings and other documents that are protected by copyright held by an unknown owner. The Register of Copyrights issued a report in May that included a “variety of proposals to expand access to copyrighted works,” said the letter, also signed by Authors Alliance, Knowledge Economy International and New Media Rights. The proposals aren't law and it’s possible Congress won't act or embrace a new approach entirely, it said. Though the groups that signed the letter vary in their preferences to how the issue should be remedied, all asked that the “TPP not adopt measures that would prevent the Congress from enacting these or other such provisions should they be needed at some point to expand access to orphaned copyrighted works.”