[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 68 (Monday, April 28, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3437-S3438]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SHAWN BENTLEY ORPHAN WORKS ACT OF 2008

  Mr. HATCH. 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

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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.

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