Official term
In Copyright: Rights-holder(s) Unlocatable or Unidentifiable
The institution has reasonably determined that the item is in copyright but could not identify or locate the rights holder after investigation.
Version 1.0
Open the official termFor visitors
The work is believed to remain in copyright and its rights holder could not be found. The Museum may still display, document, study, and preserve it on a recorded professional and legal basis; public adaptation and commercial reuse receive separate review.
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
Contextual museum use
The Museum may display a lawfully acquired work after documenting its search and the basis for presentation. The missing rights holder does not require the work to disappear from view.
- Publish online
Contextual museum use
A collection record and proportionate identification view may be published after a documented risk review, with a contact and correction route and controlled high-resolution access where appropriate.
- Publish in print
Contextual museum use
Museum scholarship may use a proportionate image when permission, fair use, fair dealing, or another exception supports it. Unlocatability alone supplies no reuse permission.
- Make preservation copies
Contextual museum use
The Museum may undertake lawful controlled preservation and retain the search record, technical evidence, and rationale with the object.
- Share an adaptation
Separate permission or legal basis
A public remix or new adaptation calls for permission or a specific legal exception.
- Make commercial use
Separate permission or legal basis
Commercial image use calls for permission or a strong independent legal basis.
What the Museum can do
- Report the unresolved rights-holder search accurately and retain the search evidence with the object record.
Conditions
- Use only after a reasonable investigation and only when the work is believed to remain in copyright.
What remains outside the term
- The statement does not grant permission, extinguish copyright, or replace the EU orphan-work statement where that regime applies.
Exact English legal code
This entry is a status, mark, or case description rather than a public license. Its official definition is linked above.