The US' Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) has filed reply comments with the US Copyright Office in response to the latter's October 22, 2012 Notice of Inquiry (NOI). The NOI was about the current state of play with orphan works and mass digitisation.
LCA reviewed the comments filed to date and concluded that 'the significant diversity of opinion expressed in the initial comments submitted in the response to the Copyright Office's NOI concerning orphan works and mass digitisation indicates that it will be extremely difficult to forge a consensus approach to these issues…In light of these fundamental disagreements, LCA recommends that the Copyright Office pursue non-legislative solutions such as continuing to make the Copyright Office records more accessible.
Moreover, the Office should seek to bolster fair use in both judicial and international fora. If the Copyright Office does decide to recommend a legislative solution, the only approach likely to achieve consensus is, as we suggested in our initial comments, a one sentence amendment to 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(2) that grants courts the discretion to reduce or remit statutory damages if the user conducted a reasonably diligent search prior to the use.
