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Originally Posted by lumpynose
Ok, thanks. I was thinking about it because there are times when you can see a descendant renewing copyrights when the books are unlikely to still be popular, and I was thinking that perhaps it's because the stories might be useful for the studios. So make the ebooks free but the studios still have to pay to use the stories.
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I suspect that some people think that holding a copyright is a potential gold mine. They are thinking they are going to get Tolkien or Rowling type money rather than make it available for free. Of course, with orphaned works, the copyright holders likely don't even know that they hold the copyright, they just vaguely remember that Great Uncle John was a writer especially if Great Uncle John was a mid tier author who didn't make a mint.
I don't know if you have ever had to work through an estate, but it can be really tough to even figure out what sort of bank accounts and investment accounts someone has. Maybe if the book is in print and they are getting some sort of statement from the publisher, but something that is out of print?