EUIPO says that the new Out-of-Commerce Works Portal allows users to search for copyright works that are still protected by copyright but are no longer or have never been commercially available and that are held by European libraries, archives, museums and other cultural heritage institutions.

The Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive (2019/790/EU) introduces a legal framework to support cultural heritage institutions in the digitisation and cross-border dissemination of out-of-commerce works and Article 10 provides that such works must be recorded in a single public online portal.

The main purpose of the new Portal is to provide access to information about the ongoing and future uses of out-of-commerce works, as well as to make it easier for rights holders to exercise their rights. The regime will complement the measures already in place for the use of orphan works at European level (e.g. the Orphan Works Database). To read EUIPO’s press release in full and for a link to the Portal, click here.