Have you ever had trouble obtaining copyright clearance? If this question applies to you, please read on.

I. The Problem
II. Who We Are
III. Questions We Have For You
IV. Contact Us

The Copyright Act is intended to benefit the public by encouraging people to create scholarly and artistic works. Rewarding creators with ownership in and control over their works can be one effective way to encourage creativity. However, certain aspects of the copyright law can undermine the goals of the act. Having to obtain copyright clearance for works, such as old or obscure works, from copyright holders who are difficult, if not impossible, to identify or contact may be thwarting the Act's goal. When creators are unable to obtain materials in their works because they cannot identify or contact the copyright holders, the public loses access to information and artistic expression.

The Copyright Clearance Initiative is a public interest law project at the American University, Washington College of Law. We have been working with creators, including authors, artists, curators, musicians, and filmmakers, to understand and identify problems with obtaining copyright clearance. In particular, we are exploring solutions to provide access to works for which copyright owners cannot be located. On April 11, 2003, we held a closed Symposium to discuss this problem. (For information on the Symposium, please see the attachment under Additional Materials.) Our goal is to develop and implement solutions that serve the interests of the public, creators, and copyright holders.

Has the difficulty in obtaining a copyright clearance and the subsequent threat of liability influenced what materials you include in your works? Materials could include such items as photographs, song lyrics, manuscripts, newspaper articles, film clips, sound bytes, Internet postings, or other such forms.

Do you have any suggestions for solving the problem? For example,

• What would improve the process of obtaining copyright clearance?
• How could the law be changed to improve the clearance process?
• Who would be helpful in achieving change?

Please e-mail us with your stories and suggestions for solutions!!! Your input is crucial to the success of our project.

cci@wcl.american.edu

We look forward to hearing from you!

Your stories and contact information will be kept private and will not be released without your express permission. Information sent to the Copyright Clearance Initiative does not create an Attorney-Client relationship.