Key Laws and Regulations
Section 31A of the Indian Copyright Act of 1957 recognises orphan works. This section permits individuals to apply for a compulsory license to use an orphan work, provided that the author is either deceased, untraceable, or unknown. Additionally, the work must be unpublished and have originated in India.
Orphan works are creative materials that may be protected by copyright, but the owner cannot be identified. Like many others, this one is a result of poor or incomplete documentation preventing civilians from requesting access by normal means.
Orphan works are significant intellectual property because they pose problems for users who seek to use these untraceable works (and therefore have a solid claim of having obtained them lawfully). The orphan works are critical documents for scholarship, teaching, and culture, but they have lost their owners or been acquired by a party that can no longer be found. These are the types of issues that, standing alone, would be hard to justify, but when brought into line with questions about orphan works, they help build a stronger arbitral balance between copyright owner rights and getting these orphans into public hands. Provisions exist under state-managed law to take advantage of limited-use provisions that do not violate copyright on a number of orphan works. These exceptions often apply to non-commercial, cultural, and educational uses of works. Where a court determines that an orphan work is being used under circumstances not authorised by the owner of the copyright in such work, it may grant any remedy available for infringement, including an injunction to prevent and restrain infringing use or compensation to be paid from damages pursuant to actual knowledge.