Samenvatting

The cultural world has two kinds of ownerships: the physical and intellectual. Many items have an important meaning not only for the individual, but also for the society. Making the items accessible requires following regulations such as copyrights. Multiple items have no rights holder or the rights holders cannot be found. These items are mostly known as orphan works. In 2014 the orphan works directive was created by the European Parliament and Commission to make orphan works publicly available. Estonia, a European Union member state, is required to apply this directive in the heritage field.
The thesis topic focuses on Estonian institutions regarding the orphan works directive. The thesis investigates: How is the orphan works directive implemented in the Estonian cultural institutions? And what is their opinion about the directive?