Change in Irish Copyright law that facilitates the digitisation and making available online by our cultural institutions of important literary, artistic and other cultural works.
The Regulations entitled European Union (Certain permitted uses of Orphan Works) Regulations 2014
allow for the use of orphan works in the nature of books, journals, or other written works as well as cinematographic or audiovisual works or sound recordings by cultural organisations for the purpose of digitising those works without infringing copyright. The works will then be recorded on a single European portal for orphan works.
To use the works for this purpose, cultural organisations must first carry out a diligent search to establish ownership of the work(s). If the search does not result in the identification or location of the rightholder(s), the organisation can then notify the outcome of the search to the competent authority, which in Ireland’s case is the Controller of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks. The Controller will forward the information received on the orphan work for recording on the European database of orphan works maintained by the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM), Alicante. Where a rightholder emerges and puts an end to the orphan work status of a relevant work, that rightholder may be due fair compensation from the relevant cultural organisation which has made use of the work. In the event of a dispute as to the amount of fair compensation, either the rightholder or the relevant cultural institution may refer the matter to the Controller for determination.