Exploring The System Of Protection And Utilization Of "orphan Works"

The concept of “orphan works” originated from European and American countries.It started to attract people’s attention as Google’s Digital Library Plan evolved.As information technology develops all over the world,the existence of “orphan works” caused the problem of usage difficulties.It impeded the usage,communication and inheritance of cultural resources to a certain extent,and furthermore,is harmful to social development.“Orphan works” refer to the works which the user wish to use through the way of copyright owner’s authorization whereas the copyright owner’s identity is unclear or the copyright owner unreachable.Since the user has tried every way but still failed to clarify the copyright owner’s identity or reach the copyright owner,under relevant legal regulations,there is no lawful way to use the work under such circumstances.If the user uses the work without authorization,there may be risks of potential litigation.If the user abandons usage of the work,the social value of the work will be substantially lowered,which in turn contradict with the litigation goal of encouraging cultural inheritance and publicity of the work.The first part of this thesis is an overview of “orphan works”,which introduces the concept,origin and necessity of its protection and usage.The second part is a comparative study of the use mode of “orphan works” of different countries,which mainly introduces the use mode of“orphan works” in the US,EU,Canada and Japan.The third part is an analysis of the current litigation and several relevant issues about “orphan works” in our country and proposes suggestions to the usage of “orphan works” in China based on the draft of the third amendment to Copyright Law.