Official term
In Copyright: EU Orphan Work
The underlying work has been identified and registered as an orphan work under the European Union Orphan Works Directive by an eligible institution.
Version 1.0
Open the official termFor visitors
The item remains in copyright. Its orphan-work status supports uses allowed by the EU Directive, not unrestricted public reuse.
Museum practice
These readings describe how the Museum normally presents, studies, publishes, and cares for a lawfully acquired work. The exact rights record, artist agreements, and applicable law continue to govern each object.
- Display the work
Within the stated purpose
A qualifying institution may present a registered orphan work within the public-interest purposes allowed by the EU regime. The statement is unsuitable for photography and visual art excluded by that regime.
- Publish online
Within the stated purpose
A qualifying institution may make the registered work available online for cultural and educational purposes within the Directive, with the diligent-search and EUIPO record retained.
- Publish in print
Within the stated purpose
Public-interest cataloguing and scholarship may fit the orphan-work regime. Commercial publishing and uses beyond the registered scope receive separate review.
- Make preservation copies
Within the stated purpose
Digitisation, indexing, cataloguing, preservation, and restoration are central permitted purposes for a qualifying institution under the EU regime.
- Share an adaptation
Separate permission or legal basis
The orphan-work regime supplies no general permission for a public remix or derivative work.
- Make commercial use
Separate permission or legal basis
Commercial exploitation falls outside ordinary orphan-work use, apart from cost recovery allowed by the regime.
What the Museum can do
- Use the statement only when the work, institution, diligent search, and EUIPO registration satisfy the Directive.
Conditions
- The statement is limited to the works and beneficiary institutions covered by the Directive.
What remains outside the term
- It is not a general label for a work whose rights holder is merely difficult to find, and the Directive excludes photography and visual art from its covered categories.
Exact English legal code
This entry is a status, mark, or case description rather than a public license. Its official definition is linked above.