A few months back, I sent out a permission request form to a scientific journal in order to secure rights to a table they printed in 1973. As it turns out, the authors retained the copyright on their work.
So I’ve been trying to track down the authors. The (all but anonymous) letter from the journal informed me that they used to work for Company A. Unfortunately, sometime in the 1980s, Company A was apparently swallowed up by Company B. Which was itself swallowed up by Company C and then finally Company D. (And that’s only if I’ve got what I pieced together through Google completely straight.)
So now I’m wondering if it’s even worth trying to contact Company D and ask if they have any contact information. “Yeah, these people supposedly worked for a company that was bought by another company that the company with which you merged themselves bought. Any idea where they are now?”