Orphan Works

Characters that fall into a category called "orphan works." An orphan work is a (potentially) copyrighted work for which the copyright owner cannot be determined or, when determined, contacted. In some cases, only the name of its creator or copyright owner is known, and no other information can be established. A work can become an orphan because the copyright owner is unaware of their ownership, has died, or is a company that has gone out of business and, thus, it is not possible to establish ownership of the work.