On January 5, 2009, the 110th Congress ended. All legislation that was not passed by both houses of Congress came to an end. New orphan works legislation will need to be introduced in the 111th Congress for it to be reconsidered in the future. No orphan works legislation is currently before Congress. The same version of S. 2913 and H.R. 5889 could be reintroduced with no changes or a few / some / numerous changes could be made to either version before they are reintroduced by an interested Member of Congress. Any Member of Congress could reintroduce orphan works legislation, although the tradition is that the same Member(s) of Congress who introduced similar legislation in the prior Congress do so again.

Due to internal rules adopted by Democratic Party members in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Berman is no longer the Chairman of the Intellectual Property Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee in 2009. Former Subcommittee Chairman Berman is now the Chairman of the entire House International Relations Committee. Mr. Berman was not replaced on the Intellectual Property Subcommittee since there is no Intellectual Property Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee in the 111th Congress. Orphan works and all other intellectual property issues (copyrights, trademarks, and patents) will be handled by the full Judiciary Committee, rather than one of its Subcommittees. This will result in less chance to debate the new version of the legislation and related amendments.

On September 26, 2008, the Senate passed S. 2913 by unanimous consent, i.e. not one Senator objected to its passage.

On August 8, 2008, the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration held a workshop on orphan works in New York City. A number of opponents from the visual arts and photographic community spoke at the two hour event. No supporters of the legislation were invited to participate. The event was not noticed in the Federal Register, nor does it appear that a formal record of the event was kept. (Video of the event is available however)

In July 2008, the full House Judiciary Committee deferred its planned markup on H.R. 5889 due to opposition from the copyright user community to additional changes to the legislation desired by large copyright owners. Objections from the visual arts community had little impact upon the decision to defer the markup.

In June and July 2008, there were two attempts by the full Senate to pass S. 2913 by unanimous consent, but the legislation was blocked by Republican Members of the Senate upset over the slow pace of judicial nominations and copyright user complaints over the state sovereign immunity issue. Senator Leahy is responsible for deciding when federal judges have their confirmation votes by the Senate and some Republican Senators were upset with the scheduling of votes on these judges. As a result, they objected to the unanimous consent passage of S. 2913 which is sponsored by Senator Leahy. This use of anonymous holds is not uncommon in the Senate, especially when votes on federal judges are involved.

On June 20, 2008, the Congressional Budget Office released its formal budget score (pdf) of S. 2913. A budget score is required of all new legislation to estimate the financial impact of new legislation to the federal and state governments and to the public. CBO estimates a $2 million federal cost over four years for the legislation.

On May 15, 2008, the Senate Judiciary Committee agreed by a "voice vote" to S. 2913 after making several changes to the bill in a "manager's amendment."

On May 7, 2008, the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, Intellectual Property agreed by a "voice vote" to send H.R. 5889 to the full House Judiciary Committee after making several changes to the bill in a "manager's amendment." More changes will be made at the full Committee markup.

On April 24, 2008, two different versions of the Orphan Works Act were introduced - H.R. 5889 and S. 2913.

On March 13, 2008, the Subcommittee on Courts, Internet, and Intellectual Property of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee held an oversight hearing on orphan works. This restarted the legislative process on orphan works legislation for 2008. The prior legislation, H.R. 5439, expired at the end of the previous Congress in 2006.