Defunct corporate owner of work made for hire

I've come across a strange situation. One of my clients would like to include an article written by one of its current employees in a book it plans to publish. However, the article was written by the current employee when he was employed by another company. Moreover, the article was written pursuant to his former employment and is thus a work made for hire. Obviously we would have approached the current employee's former employer, but the former employer is now defunct.

Has anyone else come across a similar situation? Any suggestions on how to obtain clearance or at least protect the client if it chooses to include the article in its book?

I'd appreciate any input you might have.

Thanks.

Steve Shelton
sheltost[_at_]rw.com Received on Thu Jul 31 1997 - 13:32:55 GMT