TITLE II—ORPHAN WORKS 
SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Orphan Works Act 
of 2006’’ 
SEC. 202. LIMITATION ON REMEDIES IN CASES INVOLVING 
ORPHAN WORKS. 
(a) LIMITATION ON REMEDIES.—Chapter 5 of title 
17, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section: 
‘‘§ 514. Limitation on remedies in cases involving or-
phan works 
‘‘(a) CONDITIONS FOR ELIGIBILITY.— 
‘‘(1) CONDITIONS.—Notwithstanding sections 
502 through 505, in an action brought under this 
title for infringement of copyright in a work, the 
remedies for infringement shall be limited under 
subsection (b) if the infringer sustains the burden of 
proving, and the court finds, that— 
‘‘(A) before the infringing use of the work 
began, the infringer, a person acting on behalf 
of the infringer, or any person jointly and sev-
erally liable with the infringer for the infringe-
ment of the work— 
‘‘(i) performed and documented a rea-
sonably diligent search in good faith to 
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identify and locate the owner of the in-
fringed copyright; but 
‘‘(ii) was unable to locate the owner; 
and 
‘‘(B) the infringing use of the work pro-
vided attribution, in a manner reasonable under 
the circumstances, to the author and owner of 
the copyright, if known with a reasonable de-
gree of certainty based on information obtained 
in performing the reasonably diligent search. 
‘‘(2) 
DEFINITIONS; 
REQUIREMENTS
FOR 
SEARCHES.— 
‘‘(A) OWNER OF INFRINGED COPYRIGHT.— 
For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the ‘owner’ 
of an infringed copyright in a work is the legal 
or beneficial owner of, or any party with au-
thority to grant or license, an exclusive right 
under section 106 applicable to the infringe-
ment. 
‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS
FOR
REASONABLY 
DILIGENT SEARCH.—(i) For purposes of para-
graph (1), a search to locate the owner of an 
infringed copyright in a work— 
‘‘(I) is ‘reasonably diligent’ only if it 
includes such steps that are reasonable 
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under the circumstances to locate that 
owner in order to obtain permission for the 
use of the work; and 
‘‘(II) is not ‘reasonably diligent’ solely 
by reference to the lack of identifying in-
formation with respect to the copyright on 
the copy or phonorecord of the work. 
‘‘(ii) The steps referred to in clause (i)(I) 
shall ordinarily include, at a minimum, review 
of the information maintained by the Register 
of Copyrights under subparagraph (C). 
‘‘(iii) A reasonably diligent search includes 
the use of such expertise and technology as are 
reasonably available and appropriate under the 
circumstances, and may include, if reasonable 
under the circumstances, resources for which a 
charge or subscription fee is imposed. 
‘‘(C) 
INFORMATION
TO
GUIDE 
SEARCHES.—The Register of Copyrights shall 
receive, maintain, and make available to the 
public, including through the Internet, informa-
tion from authoritative sources, such as indus-
try guidelines, statements of best practices, and 
other relevant documents, that is designed to 
assist users in conducting and documenting a 
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