Finding representatives for "orphaned" works isn't ALWAYS easy

All well and good, but "orphaned" works are a real problem, and the fair rights of the owners of commercially valuable works must be BALANCED against the rights of the culture as a whole to re-discover, re-use and enjoy abandoned works. There will always be mistakes in any laws or regulation, but we shouldn't lock up the whole haystack just to protect a few potential needles in it.

Why shouldn't rightsholders, as a condition of maintaining their rights, have a positive responsibility to answer queries and maintain traceability? The Motor Vehicles Department requires me to inform them of any changes in my address, why not the copyright office?

Let me revive my personal case. And make a serious request for help. I'm try to locate anyone who could give me permission to reproduce a full chapter of an out-of-print 1955 novel entitled "The Gadget Maker," by Maxwell Griffith. I've been trying on and off for over a decade now, with no success.

If I do a Google search on "Maxwell Griffith" in quotation marks, the first hit I get is
http://www.dpbsmith.com/gadgetmaker/index.html
Try it yourself--Google Analytics customizes searches but I think that's the top hit for anyone. That page has been up there since 2006 and nobody has responded.

Some highlights: The Author's Guild has no information. whorepresents.com has no information. I've tried to contact "the" publisher and I must tell you that it is common for publishers not to answer letters and emails requesting permissions. I don't understand that at all and I think it's reprehensible. Lippincott published it, but Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins handles only medical books and such and sloughs off responsibility for Lippincott fiction. They directed me to HarperCollins but could not give me any good names--they tried ("Faith Freeman Barbato but I doubt she is still there"). HarperCollins never replied to a query on their "permissions request website page, and never answered when I mailed them a printed paper letter. 

A copyright search turns up "Gadget Maker." Registration number RE-145-540, effective (renewal) date 1Dec82, original registration number A155061, claimant "Maxwell Griffith (A)." Since the renewal was by Griffith himself, it doesn't give me any heirs or representatives to search for.

I paid Intelius $20 for information and they came up with the same Maxwell Griffith anywho.com gave me for free; that person is deceased but I eventually contact his daughter, and it's not the author, just someone else with the same name.

Someone on this list suggested I contact a Sarah Little but after saying she had located the names of his heirs but no contact information, she found nothing more.



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