Canada’s Copyright Act includes a provision, section 77, that permits the Copyright Board of Canada to issue a licence to a user whose reasonable efforts to locate a copyright owner have been unsuccessful. This is Canada’s “orphan works” regime. The issue of orphan works is one of increasing significance, and has received global attention. Though the Canadian regime is arguably one of the most advanced legislative responses to the problem of orphan works in force anywhere in the world, it has received little systematic analysis and its details are often misunderstood. This study is the first to thoroughly describe the legal and practical aspects of the Canadian orphan works regime. Its purpose is not to conduct a program evaluation nor a policy analysis, though the empirical findings presented may provide a foundation for future work of that nature.

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