Why Voluntary Consensus Standards Incorporated by Reference into Federal Government Regulations Are Copyright Protected

American National Institute Standards (ANSI)

3/02/2011
(Original Publish Date: 1/1/2011)

When the government references copyrighted works, those works should not lose their copyright, but the responsible government agency should ensure that the public does have reasonable access to the referenced documents. The U.S. government's announced policy under OMB A-119 is to "observe and protect" the right of copyright holders when incorporating by reference into law voluntary consensus standards. The very purpose of this policy is to permit the government to benefit from the efficiencies of the voluntary consensus standards development process. Reasonable access to standards is ensured through electronic purchasing models utilized by most SDOs, and many standards developers make some or all of their standards available without charge to selected users of those standards. The process works and benefits everyone involved.