Copyright status of works by the federal government of the United States

Common card · No. 370823

Works by the federal government of the United States are not protected by copyright and therefore in the public domain. More specifically, the Copyright Act of 1976 which is codified in Title 17 of the United States code states in section 105: "copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government". In section 101, "work of the United States Government" is defined as "a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties." This act only applies to U.S. domestic copyright as that is the extent of U.S. federal law. The U.S. government asserts that it can still hold the copyright to those works in other countries. Publication of an otherwise protected work by the U.S. government does not put that work in the public domain. For example, government publications may include works copyrighted by a contractor or grantee, copyrighted material assigned to the U.S. government, or copyrighted...

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