What are ‘orphan works’?

‘Orphan works’ is the term used for any work – book, painting, illustration, newspaper article, film, website – that is protected by copyright but whose owner cannot be found or contacted to obtain permission to use it.

The EU Directive on Orphan Works sets out common rules for their use by cultural organisations such as libraries, museums and archives, allowing whole orphan works to be digitised for non-commercial purposes without infringing copyright. These rules include an EU standard for diligent search for the owners of works supported by a diligent search tool for the Orphan Works Database.