S. 835: Pro Codes Act

This bill addresses copyright protections for privately-developed technical standards that are incorporated into a law or regulation (e.g., a state law that requires buildings to comply with the electrical standards developed by a private standards development organization).

Currently, there is not a consensus as to whether a technical standard that has been incorporated by reference into a law retains copyright protection. (A technical standard created by a private organization is typically eligible for copyright protection, but some courts have ruled that standards incorporated into law lose their copyright protections for various reasons. For example, some courts have held that incorporated standards effectively became law and therefore entered the public domain.)

Under this bill, a technical standard shall retain its copyright protection even if it has been incorporated by reference into a law or regulation, if the applicable standards development organization makes the standard available on a free publicly accessible online source.

Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.