In the U.S., what happens to intellectual property that has escheated to a state government?
<p>A <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/a/87920/508">recent answer</a> to a question here about the legality of publishing a work for which the copyright owner cannot be found mentions</p>
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<p>If the owner has no legal heirs, in most jurisdictions the property escheats to the government (in the US to the state government).</p>
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<p>How do U.S. state governments normally deal with such intellectual property whose copyright has escheated to the state? Do they auction it off? Release it as public domain? Something else?</p>
<p>I know that U.S. federal government publications are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_works_by_the_federal_government_of_the_United_States" rel="noreferrer">normally released into the public domain</a>, but I'm not sure if that applies to the state governments at all or if it would apply in the case of orphaned works that have escheated to the state.</p>

<p>If the owner of the intellectual property leaves property subject to the jurisdiction of the state of Washington, and it is determined that the owner is dead and has no heirs, then per <a href="https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.08&amp;full=true#11.08.150" rel="noreferrer">RCW 11.08.140</a> it is designated escheat property. Then the following sections specify that title to the property vests in the state. The Department of Revenue has jurisdiction over that property, which has
the duty to protect and conserve the property for the benefit of the permanent common school fund. There is no general answer to the question of what would best benefit the school fund. Any form of giving it away would not benefit the school fund, at least if there was an viable option for sale / licensing. There are provisions that relate to the possibility that an heir is eventually uncovered, but I will assume that no heir ever appears.</p>
<p>Ohio law is similar. The decendant's property escheats to the state in case there is no heir. Then under <a href="https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2105.07" rel="noreferrer">ORC 2105.07</a>,</p>
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<p>the prosecuting attorney of the county in which letters of
administration are granted upon such estate shall collect and pay it
over to the county treasurer. Such estate shall be applied exclusively
to the support of the common schools of the county in which collected.</p>
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united-states intellectual-property