Using Google and a telephone, the Authors Guild uncovered the author of a so-called orphaned work in less than three minutes–illustrating a major research problem as universities and libraries decide what to do with millions of scanned books.
Earlier this week, the Authors Guild sued HathiTrust to prevent a consortium of universities from providing free access to some orphaned works in a scanned collection of seven million books. Orphaned works are “books that are subject to copyright but whose copyright holders cannot be identified or contacted.” Follow this PDF link for more information.
Here’s more from the Authors Guild: “We looked up the literary agent in a standard online phone directory. We found the number and called. We spoke to the agent’s wife. She confirmed that her husband represented the author, who lives in Maryland. A couple hours later, the agent called us back. He had no idea his client’s first book, ‘The Lost Country’ (the one made into the Elvis Presley movie), was headed to the orphanage in a few weeks. He wasn’t happy. He told us that his client had just signed an agreement to release his second book, ‘Lilith’ (the one made into the Warren Beatty movie), as an e-book by Tantor Media.”
UPDATE: The Authors Guild has also found books by a Pulitzer Prize winner and a Stanford University emeritus professor.