RE: [cni] [CNI-COPYRIGHT] copyright on standards

Is the issue not the content but the authorship? As I understand it, standards produced by NISO, a Federal Government agency, are in the public domain in the USA (but not outside it); whereas the IEEE is an independent professional body and learned society not part of the government, so entitled to assert copyright.

The interesting aspect to this question is the extent to which IEEE standards have government-sanctioned legal status, so that they become effectively part of the statutory building codes (e.g. in the case of electrical wiring regulations). In that case, there is an argument that they should be in the public domain.

On the other hand, most IEEE standards (such as 802.11, the standard for wireless networking) are industry standards, with no statutory force; the government only allocates the radio spectrum, while the industry agrees how to use it.

Edward Barrow
New Media Copyright Consultant
http://www.copyweb.co.uk/
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On Wednesday, April 16, 2003 4:11 AM, Freya Anderson [SMTP:freya_anderson[_at_]eed.state.ak.us] wrote:
> Hello all~
>
> Someone recently told me that standards were considered (US) government
> documents, and as such do not have copyright protection. I was under the
> impression that most standards were not created by government work, that
> they were not considered government documents for copyright purposes, and
> that clearance was necessary for copying. Looking at an IEEE standard, I
> see that it has copyright notices all over it, and that it is possible to
> obtain clearance through the Copyright Clearance Center.
>
> Could someone clarify for me whether or not standards are generally
> copyrightable?
>
> Thanks!
> Freya Anderson
> ILL Librarian ~around the clock reference service~
> Alaska State Library http://library.state.ak.us
> P.O. Box 110571
> Juneau, AK 99811
> Phone: 907-465-2988, Fax: 907-465-2665
> E-mail: freya_anderson[_at_]eed.state.ak.us, ILL email:
> aslill[_at_]eed.state.ak.us
> OCLC - ALK Member: LVIS, BCR, BCR/Amigos Reciprocal Agreements
>
>
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<https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/> Received on Wed Apr 16 2003 - 18:43:50 GMT