http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/orphan-works-science-fiction-and-fantasy-writers-of-america-weighs-in-4/ Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Sun, 19 May 2013 20:02:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/orphan-works-science-fiction-and-fantasy-writers-of-america-weighs-in-4/#comment-154649 Christian S. Byers Sun, 17 Feb 2013 08:59:24 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?guid=b3990d4e9cb62bf0435ac85f5fb269cd#comment-154649 I think there’s a pretty easy solution when it comes to orphan works.The government sets up a “Bureau of Orphan Works”, that has access to government information like the census, and birth records. This should make it pretty easy to find any heirs to authors who have passed away.Anyone who seeks to publish an orphaned work pays a search fee to this bureau, and if no owner of the work can be found, they get a licence to publish the work.I don’t see any problem in setting up such a bureau, as the fee to use it would finance it.There should of course be a higher fee than is needed to make the bureau break even. Heirs can turn up at a later date, and a fund is needed to compensate them should this happen.

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