Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
development of tools to identify and mechanisms to facilitate the lawful
use of orphan works, and to advocate measures to prevent future works
from becoming orphan.
The Dutch solution
Tracing and finding the copyright rights holders in order to ask for
permission to digitize and reuse works places an administrative and
financial burden on libraries and other cultural and/or educational
organizations. This may lead to their abandoning the idea of
digitization. To make digitization possible, and to make works from the
collections of cultural heritage institutions in the Netherlands available,
the Dutch Library Forum and the branch organization of the Dutch
collecting societies for copyright and related rights have chosen
contractual arrangements. They have signed a declaration to clarify
matters for institutions regarding the digitization of their (heritage)
collections (Digiti©E Committee, 2009). Under this declaration, it will
be possible for institutions to make their collections available on their
own premises for the purposes of teaching, research or private study
without conducting a diligent search. However, works to be digitized
by publicly accessible libraries, museums and archives must fulfil
certain criteria in order to make use of these provisions. The works must
form part of the Dutch cultural heritage and must have been legally
acquired. Furthermore, to the best knowledge of the institution, the
works to be digitized must be no longer commercially available and the
rights regarding the works to be digitized must be vested in Dutch
rights holders or in rights holders who can be represented by a Dutch
collecting society.
The arrangement means that institutions do not need to devote an
unnecessarily large amount of time and money to searching for rights
holders and making arrangements regarding reuse. The collecting
societies will conduct the diligent search. For further online
distribution, the consent of the rights holder will remain necessary and
a reasonable payment must be made. Prior to any other type of
reproduction or provision of access to the works, organizations must
contact a registration centre to negotiate between the rights holder and
cultural heritage institution with regard both to provision of access as
such and to reasonable payment.
