An Integrated Framework for Providing Access to Orphan Works in Malaysia

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-352-8_25How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Intellectual Property; Copyright Law; Orphan Works; Orphan Works Licensing; Adverse Possession Doctrine

Abstract

Orphan work has nothing to do with orphan children. Orphan works are copyright-protected works with unidentifiable, untraceable, and unlocatable copyright holders. Prospective users such as individuals and cultural heritage institutions must obtain permission from the copyright holders before using their works. This is in line with the principle of respect under copyright law. Unfortunately, in an orphan work situation, the authorisation from the copyright holders can’t be obtained despite a thorough search. For fear of legal suits, most law-abiding individuals and organisations chose to abandon the works from exploitation activities, leaving the orphan works to stay stagnant in the copyright orphanage. Therefore, this research aimed to explore and propose an innovative strategy that could help unlock the orphan work from such a situation, especially in the Malaysian context. In achieving the aforementioned aims, this research employed a combination of doctrinal analysis and library-based research. This paper eventually proposed an integrated framework (incorporating the elements of adverse possession doctrine into the licensing regime) for the exploitation of orphan works which may be considered by policy makers and legislators in formulating a solution for interested parties to use the orphan works. It is hoped that this finding will instill confidence in any interested parties, especially in exploiting and managing risky materials such as orphan works, thereby releasing the same from the copyright orphanage.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Muhamad Helmi Muhamad Khair
AU  - Mohd Haris Abdul Rani
AU  - Maruf Billah
AU  - Azlina Mohd Hussain
AU  - Mohd Syahrul Ab. Ghani
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/01/10
TI  - An Integrated Framework for Providing Access to Orphan Works in Malaysia
BT  - Proceedings of the 12th UUM International Legal Conference 2023 (UUMILC 2023)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 323
EP  - 334
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-352-8_25
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-352-8_25
ID  - Khair2024
ER  -