The EUIPO launched a new Out-Of-Commerce Works Portal, a platform where to access information about ongoing and future uses of out-of-commerce works: books, films, or visual works, that are still protected by copyright but are no longer or have never been commercially available.

Cultural heritage institutions contain millions of out-of-commerce works in their collections, which still hold value for research or education purposes or are simply entertaining.

Directive (EU) 2019/790 introduced a legal framework to support the digitisation and cross-border dissemination of out-of-commerce works. Information about these works has to be stored in a public single online portal, the creation and management of which has been entrusted to the EUIPO.

The regime will complement the measures already in place for the use of orphan works at European level such as the Orphan Works Database.