Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on federal agencies' efforts to comply with the prohibition on copyrighting government works, focusing on the: (1) extent to which copyright law has constrained the transfer of federal computer software and other new technologies; and (2) benefits and disadvantages of amending copyright law to allow federal agencies to copyright software.

GAO found that: (1) there was no evidence that federal agencies improperly copyrighted government software; (2) top officials at six of the seven agencies GAO reviewed believed software copyrighting and licensing constraints hurt their efforts to transfer computer software for commercial application to U.S. businesses; (3) agency officials said copyright and licensing authorities would stimulate the transfer of federal software with commercial applications to U.S. businesses by providing investment protection; (4) royalty-sharing would also give federal researchers an incentive to further develop and document the software; and (5) industry officials expressed concern that authority to copyright and license software could limit access to federal scientific and demographic databases.