On May 24, the House Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet and 
Intellectual Property, Committee on the Judiciary approved H.R. 5439, 
the "Orphan Works Act of 2006."  Overall, the legislation as introduced 
constitutes a very positive step forward in solving many orphan works 
concerns raised by libraries, archives and others in the cultural 
community.  The legislative solution includes U.S., foreign, published and 
unpublished works, and presents a relatively flexible system for users and 
institutions regarding what constitutes a reasonable search for orphan 
works. Since approval by the Subcommittee,  some additional changes (e.g. 
state sovereign immunity provisions) have been proposed to the legislation.

It is critically important for members of the House Committee on the 
Judiciary to receive letters of support for H.R. 5439 as soon as 
possible.  As members of the Committee are hearing mostly from opponents 
of the legislation, it is important that the Committee hear NOW from 
supporters of the orphan works legislation.

A sample letter and a list of members of the Judiciary Committee are 
included below.  If a member of the Judiciary Committee is in your state 
delegation, please fax letters or place calls to them as soon as possible. 
Please let me know if there is additional information that I can provide.  
My thanks in advance.

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Dear Representative:

On behalf of _______, I am writing in strong support of H.R. 5439, 
the "Orphan Works Act of 2006."  This legislation, once enacted, will 
greatly help to make cultural heritage more broadly available to the 
public.  I ask that you support this legislation when H.R. 5439 is 
considered by the Committee on the Judiciary.

The special collections in our libraries, museums, state and local 
historical societies, and archives are deep and rich in our Nation's 
cultural and scientific heritage.  These collections include significant 
amounts of orphan works, works whose owners are difficult or impossible to 
locate.  These repositories with orphan works are not being made publicly 
available for fear of copyright owners coming forward and demanding 
unknown amounts of compensation.  Despite extensive and costly searches to 
locate orphan work owners, without a legislative solution, the risk 
remains too high for _____ institution to make these works publicly 
available.

Resolving the orphan works problem will present significant new 
educational opportunities because these works will be publicly accessible 
and available to students, faculty and the public.  Access to these 
resources supports and inspires new scholarship by making the works of 
previous generations more accessible and useful to current users.

Thank you in advance for considering this request.

Sincerely,

-----------------------------------------------

Hon. Sensenbrenner Jr., Chairman, Wisconsin
Hon. Hyde, Illinois
Hon. Coble, North Carolina
Hon. Smith, Texas
Hon. Gallegly, California
Hon. Goodlatte, Virginia
Hon. Chabot, Ohio
Hon. Lungren, California
Hon. Jenkins, Tennessee
Hon. Cannon, Utah
Hon. Bachus, Alabama
Hon. Inglis, South Carolina 
Hon. Hostettler, Indiana
Hon. Green, WI
Hon. Keller, Florida
Hon. Issa, California
Hon. Flake, Arizona
Hon. Pence, Indiana
Hon. Forbes, Virginia
Hon. King, Iowa
Hon. Feeney, Florida
Hon. Franks, Arizona
Hon. Gohmert, Texas 
Hon. Conyers Jr., Ranking Member, Michigan
Hon. Berman, California
Hon. Boucher, Virginia
Hon. Nadler, New York
Hon. Scott, Virginia 
Hon. Watt, North Carolina
Hon. Lofgren, California
Hon. Jackson Lee, Texas
Hon. Waters, California
Hon. Meehan, Massachusetts
Hon. Delahunt, Massachusetts
Hon. Wexler, Florida
Hon. Weiner, New York
Hon. Schiff, California
Hon. Sánchez, California
Hon. Van Hollen, Jr., Maryland
Hon. Wasserman Schultz, Florida

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Elizabeth W. Adkins, CA
President, Society of American Archivists

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