S. 835 118th Congress Senate

Pro Codes Act

Official title: A bill to amend title 17, United States Code, to reaffirm the importance of, and include requirements for, works incorporated by reference into law, and for other purposes.

Introduced: March 16, 2023 Introduced by: Christopher A. Coons Democratic · Delaware See on congress.gov

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Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Mar 16, 2023

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mar 16, 2023

Introduced in Senate

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Latest action March 16, 2023

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act or the 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.

If a party asserts that an incorporated technical standard has lost its copyright protection because it has not been made available for free online, the party making that assertion shall bear the burden of proof.

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