S-16
No. 9
GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
I.
Basic Rule. Publications of the United States Government are not copyrightable (17 U.S.C. § 8).
II.
Authorship as Criterion.
a.
Government authorship.
1.
A work authored by a U.S. Government agency (i.e., by its officers or employees as a part of their official duties), regardless of whether it is published or unpublished, is a U.S. Government publication and is not copyrightable.
Examples:
(1)
Acts of Congress.
(2)
Executive orders or proclamations.
(3)
Agency rules and regulations, bulletins, reports, forms, circulars.
(4)
Federal court decisions.
Exceptions:
(1)
Under Section 8, Title 17, U.S.C. the Postmaster General is authorized to secure copyright on behalf of the United States in black and white illustrations of U.S. postage stamps, together with such descriptive, historical, and philatelic information with regard to the stamps as the Postmaster General deems suitable.
(2)
Under section 6 of the Standard Reference Data Act, 82 Stat. 340, the Secretary of Commerce may secure copyright on behalf of the United States as author or proprietor of any standard reference data that he prepares or make availab1e under the Act.
2.
A copyright claim by a private person in a reprint of a Government publication is not registrable (unless it contains copyrightable new matter.
