It's a term that I believe comes from the field of librarianship. It actually applies not only to works where the copyright holder is unknown, but where the copyright holder can't be located. For example, we may have a random snapshot from World War II in our archive that gives the photographer's name as Bill Smith, but not enough information to identify who he was or where he lived or how to find him.

http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/

Julie Grob


________________________________________
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bob Olhsson [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2011 5:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Thank You for responses to Unpublished...getting sued

-----Original Message-----
From Phil Nohl: "...I've been collecting amateur Home Recordings for a dozen
years and never heard the word Orphan used to describe them..."

The way I've heard the term used is protected works where the copyright
owner's identity is unknown.


Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
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