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A comment on European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries. Parent comment

Re:European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batt... by RobotToaster on Friday June 16, 2023 @05:21PM (#36364070)
In the UK, if a company that owns intellectual property is dissolved, it becomes bona vacantia, and is officially property of the King.

There's an entire government department dedicated to selling this property.

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Re:European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batt... by kmeisthax on Friday June 16, 2023 @05:26PM (#36364126)
Wait, are you telling me that the UK actually has a halfway-decent solution to the orphan works problem!?
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Re:European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batt... by RobotToaster on Friday June 16, 2023 @05:40PM (#36364308)
The process is a little arcane, but it's documented here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/buy-intellectual-property-bvc8
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Re:European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batt... by DropInIn on Friday June 16, 2023 @10:48PM (#36366731)
Only if you think that the IP remaining restricted rather than entering the public domain is a halfway decent solution.....

Arguably the American model of abandonment is better because abandoned IP doesn't actually result in any lawsuits, while that UK model is built to effectively encourage them.

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Re:European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batt... by Nemo_bis on Saturday June 17, 2023 @02:27AM (#36367843)
They wouldn't be orphan if we knew who holds the corresponding rights. Selling the liquidated estates could help with certain out of commerce works, but I wonder how many such cases exists. Usually other publishers buy the catalogue just to keep it quiet and reduce the competition, even if they have no intention to reprint anything.
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