Patent and copyright policies; requires Secretaries of Administration and Technology to establish. (HB1941)
Introduced By
Del. Chris Peace (R-Mechanicsville) with support from co-patrons Del. Joe May (R-Leesburg), and Sen. John Watkins (R-Midlothian)
Progress
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Introduced |
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Passed Committee |
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Passed House |
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Passed Senate |
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Signed by Governor |
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Became Law |
Description
Patent and copyright policies of the Commonwealth. Requires the Secretary of Administration to establish policies, subject to the approval of the Governor, regarding the use of patents and copyrights owned by the Commonwealth. Such policies shall include, at a minimum, the following:
1. A policy granting state agencies the authority over the use and release of patents and copyrights created by employees of the agency. Such policy shall authorize state agencies to release potentially copyrightable materials under the Creative Commons licensing system.
2. A provision encouraging the Commonwealth and state agencies to seek patent and copyright protection only in those instances where the patents or copyrights have potential commercial value.
3. Subject to approval by the Secretary of Administration, a process permitting state agencies to commercialize patents and copyrights with potential commercial value.
The bill also permits localities and local school boards to set policies regarding the use and ownership of patents and copyrights developed by employees. Amends § 2.2-2822 (“Ownership and use of patents and copyrights developed by certain public employees; Creative Commons copyrights.”), of the Code of Virginia. View Full Text »
Comments
Releasing copyrighted state materials under the Creative Commons licensing system? Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times yes. Very impressive.
This was started as a resolution for the VA DOE based on the Capetown Declaration
http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/read-the-declaration
Resolution
Establish a policy of the use of the Creative Commons License by public education institutions with respect to publicly available education content resources and assessments.
WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Virginia expends public funds to create educational materials for use by the Public School Systems of Virginia; and
WHEREAS, the use of these materials are released to the public for improvement of student learning and assessment; and
WHEREAS, these materials may have broader educational use to the betterment of the citizens of the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, citizens should have the freedom to use, customize, improve and redistribute educational resources for the public good without undue constraint, and
WHEREAS, educators worldwide are developing a vast pool of educational resources for distribution and on the Internet, open and free for all to use;
now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED that materials created for and copyrighted to the Educational Agencies of the Commonwealth of Virginia be licensed, at such time as they can be made publicly available, under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 United States license or placed in the Public Domain. Taxpayer-funded educational resources should be open educational resources and educational resource repositories should actively include and highlight open educational resources within their collections.
I love this bill. It is such an improvement over the old policy in every way. I really hope this one goes through.