> If the work is truly orphaned then no one will come after you. Of course. But it's almost impossible to know that for sure. The point of orphan works legisla

> If the work is truly orphaned then no one will come after you. Of course. But it's almost impossible to know that for sure. The point of orphan works legislation is it lets people use works that they're pretty damned sure are orphaned (and which the licensing body agrees) because they've done a diligent search, in the confidence that they can't be sued for copyright infringement if the author pops up later. (Though they may be asked to stop using the work, depends on how the regs end up being written). Point is: copyright infringement is strict liability. This sort of legislation is the closest we're going to get to a true 'due diligence' defence. > Just use any photograph you want. When asked, claim you did a diligent search and nothing came up. Er, and then be successfully sued by the copyright holder for using the work without a licence? The law provides for the SoS to (by regulations) create licensing bodies, it doesn't let people give themselves licences.