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STI and Copyright

STI Products Produced by U.S. Government Employees

Works produced by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties cannot be copyrighted (17 U.S.C. 105 (link is external)). Contractors, grantees and certain categories of people who work with the government are not considered government employees for purposes of copyright.

A joint work is work prepared by two or more authors with the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole. When the U.S. Government is joint author with a non-government entity on copyrightable work, the Government has the right to copy, distribute, and use the work.

This notice affirming the status of the author(s) as Government employees should accompany the product.

Some of the authors in this manuscript are employees of the U.S. Government. This work was prepared as part of their official duties. Title U.S.C. 105 provides that "Copyrighted protections under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government."

STI Products Produced by Site/Facility Management Contracts

In general, site/facility management contracts provide for Government ownership and unlimited rights for the Government for all technical data first produced in the performance of the contract. One exception to the Government's unlimited rights is data for which the contractor has asserted copyright.

For scientific and technical articles submitted to and published in journals, symposia proceedings, or similar works, the contractor can assert copyright without prior permission of DOE, but the Government is granted a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable world-wide license to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government (broad license). The contractor is to mark each scientific or technical article first produced or composed under the contract and submitted for journal publication or similar means of dissemination with a notice, as prescribed in their contract, reflecting the Government's non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable world-wide license in the copyright.

Notice: This manuscript has been authored by [insert the name of the Contractor] under Contract No. [insert the contract number] with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow other to do so, for United States Government purposes.

Some sites provide OSTI with metadata for the final published version of the product while others send full-text copies. Even when the Government's rights have been established, it is preferable to send OSTI a copy of the accepted manuscript (i.e., pre-publication version) instead of reprints of the final published version that may have copyright restrictions. Access to published versions with copyright restrictions will be limited to DOE and DOE contractors through Science Research Connection (SRC).

For other STI products created in the performance of the contract, such as technical reports, permission from DOE is required to establish and claim copyright.

  • If permission is granted, the applicable copyright notice is affixed on the copyrighted data and acknowledgment of the Government sponsorship, and license rights. In these cases, the announcement notice should be marked with the distribution limitation Copyrighted Material with Restrictions.
  • If permission to establish or claim copyright has not been requested or granted, no copyright marking is warranted and the document will have unlimited distribution. The announcement notice should be marked with the distribution limitation Unlimited Announcement.

STI Products Produced by Financial Assistance Recipients

Research, development, demonstration, and other scientific/technical awards should generally require periodic progress reports, special status reports, and a final scientific/technical report. Progress and status reports are management reports which provide information on the project status. These reports should not be sent to OSTI. However, the final scientific/technical report is sent to OSTI.

DOE adds appropriate patent and data provisions in all research, development, or demonstration, and other scientific/technical awards relative to protecting Government-funded data, resulting in either unlimited rights or broad government license in data delivered to DOE. In order to promote more uniformity in financial assistance patent and data rights requirements, DOE/HQ General Counsel and field Patent Counsels developed standard sets of intellectual property provisions for the various types of financial assistance awards.

The Government is granted a royalty-free, non-exclusive, and irrevocable license to reproduce, publish or otherwise use, and to authorize others to use, for Federal Government purposes -- the copyright in any work developed under a grant, subgrant, or contract under a grant or subgrant; and any rights of copyright to which a grantee, subgrantee or a contractor purchases ownership with grant support.

Theses/Dissertations

For graduate theses, dissertations, and the original of related unclassified scientific papers for which DOE has sponsored the work, DOE retains the right to use the scientific and technical information for any purpose whatsoever without any claim on the part of the author or the contractor for additional compensation. The author's copyright notice may be applied to the document. A copy of the graduate theses, dissertations, and the original of related unclassified scientific papers are sent to OSTI.

Software

Software for which the originating site has asserted copyright may include that information on a landing page or repository URL and provide that with the DOE CODE announcement. All requests for copyrighted software are referred by OSTI to the originating site and are subject to any licensing agreements.

Incorporating Copyrighted Material into STI Products

Most contractors have standard procedures that their researchers are not to include third-party copyrighted material within their STI products. If such material (e.g., a chart or illustration) is included, release should be obtained from the copyright holder. The permission should state the scope of the release or permission to reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works, display, or perform publicly so that access and availability can be accurately provided in the Announcement Notice (AN 241.1 or AN 241.3). The STI product originator should maintain all documentation related to getting permission from the copyright owner or authorized representative at the originating site.

  • For products for which permission has been obtained, the announcement notice should be marked with the distribution limitation Unlimited Announcement.
  • If the publisher permits use with restrictions, the announcement notice should be marked with the distribution limitation Copyrighted Material with Restrictions. In addition, the type of restriction should be specified in the "Other Information" announcement data field if submitting on an AN 241.1 form.

Authors should acknowledge any copyrighted material and permission in the text (e.g. "Copyrighted (name of owner), used with permission").

Derivative Works

Derivative works are those based on one or more already existing works, This includes any work in which the editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications, including translations, represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship.

Only the original author or copyright holder has the right to prepare derivative works or to authorize someone else to create a new version of that work. Seek permission from the original author or copyright holder before preparing derivative works, or consult with your local General Counsel's office.

Copyright (Other)

If the U.S. Government has been granted authority to reproduce, sell, distribute, or otherwise make the STI product available by virtue of contract language or otherwise, the following statement should appear on the cover or title page:

The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce, sell, distribute, or otherwise make available this copyrighted work. Permission for exercise by the recipient of the exclusive right mentioned in 17 U.S.C. 106 must be obtained from the copyright owner.