The following post appeared yesterday in the Public Policy Connections blog of the Special Libraries  Association (SLA).

 ”After passing in the Senate on 26 September, the Orphan Works bill, which limits remedies in copyright infringement cases involving orphan works, died in the House on 3 October after Congress voted on the financial rescue bill and ajourned.In June 2008, The Library Copyright Alliance, of which SLA is a member, wrote a letter to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) expressing appreciation for their continued leadership on the bill. The letter proposed amendments to orphan works legislation.”

The blog post is self-explanatory and linked, at least for the time being, to all pertinent events, documents, and commentary, including the full-text of the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 that had passed the Senate in September. The SLA blog post also includes links to a CBS news article about the approval of the financial rescue bill. The brief CBS News article puts the process of keeping the orphan works issue in perspective. Like so many other issues that are central to our academic work and policy concerns, orphan works have been pushed off the radar screen by the present economic collapse.

Nevertheless, Gigi Sohn at Public Knowledge remains confident that orphan works–like the Mets–will return to Congressional attention as a policy issue. Sohn noted that it was not just that the bill was eclipsed by economic concerns but that there are substantive issues yet to be worked out.

We should stay tuned to this ongoing debate and watch some of the key players recognize the changing environment in which they create and alter their positions.