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Sen. Hatch [R-UT]: Mr. President, I rise today to express my support for The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008, S. 2913, introduced at the close of last week by Senate Judiciary...

Record Text

SHAWN BENTLEY ORPHAN WORKS ACT OF 2008 -- (Senate - April 28, 2008)<p><center><pre>[Page: S. 3437]

Sen. Orrin Hatch [R-UT]: Mr. President, I rise today to express my support for The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008, S. 2913, introduced at the close of last week by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and myself. This piece of legislation is a product of years of hard work and collaboration.

I want to start off by thanking Chairman Leahy for his willingness to name this bill in honor of my long-time staffer and former colleague, Shawn Bentley, whose untimely death, at 41, greatly saddened many in this body.

Shawn worked for the Judiciary Committee for a decade, from 1993-2003. Starting as my counsel, he rose through the ranks, ending his Senate tenure as the majority's Chief Intellectual Property Counsel and Deputy Chief Counsel to the committee. He worked on many important pieces of landmark intellectual property legislation, and he initiated what we have now introduced as an orphan works bill.

Thousands of artistic creations around the country are effectively locked away in a proverbial attic and unavailable for the general public to enjoy because the owner of the copyright for the work is unknown. These are generally referred to as "orphan works." It is not always easy to identify an owner of a copyrighted work, and in many cases, information about the copyright holder is not publicly known. To make matters worse, many are discouraged from using these so-called "orphan works" for fear of being sued should the owner eventually step forward.

In an effort make orphan works more accessible, Chairman Leahy and I have been working together for years to craft meaningful legislation to address concerns that have been identified through public discussions on this issue. The Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held a hearing entitled "Orphan Works: Proposals for a Legislative Solution," at which representatives from the photography, museum, documentary film, and technology communities testified. And a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee held two hearings in the 109th Congress and one in the 110th.

Under S. 2913, potential users may use an orphan work if they conduct and document a diligent search but were unable to locate the copyright owner of the work for permission. While the bill outlines the criteria for a search, and the copyright office will disclose best practices for finding a copyright owner, the court makes the final determination as to whether a search is diligent and in good faith.

The proposed legislation also has a "safe harbor" for uses of orphan works that are educational, charitable, or religious in nature, and which are used without commercial advantage. We anticipate that many institutions such as museums, libraries, archives, nonprofit educational organizations, as well as public broadcasting entities will greatly benefit from this legislation since they would be qualified users.

S. 2913 represents a commitment from Congress to move forward in creating a way to identify copyright owners of orphan works and unlock access to thousands of artistic works so the general public may once again enjoy them. I am hopeful that further refinements will be made to this bill during the legislative process. I am confident that Chairman Leahy and I will continue to, with outside input, perfect this bill, and am confident in our House counterparts to do the same.

I am committed to moving this legislation forward and hope that we can join efforts to refine and enact this bill.