copyright act of 1976

For years, we've seen attempts to create "orphan works" legislation to deal with a much bigger problem caused by the Copyright Act of 1976.

Prior to that, when copyright required registration formalities, it was relatively easy to determine if something was covered by copyright and who likely controlled that copyright.

After the 1976 Act went into effect, suddenly you had all sorts of works that were probably covered by copyright, but it wasn't always clear who had the copyright, and thus there was no real way to contact them.

Wired: "The late ’70s, when punk exploded and disco imploded, were tumultuous years for the music industry.

A time bomb embedded in legislation from that era, the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, could bring another round of tumult to the business..."