WEST virginia legislature

2018 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 4311

By Delegates Howell, Hamrick, higginbotham, Hanshaw, Hill and Kessinger    

[Introduced January 26, 2018; Referred
to the Committee on Government Organization then the Judiciary.]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §47-2A-5, relating to making all work product by State Government to be in the public domain and not subject to copyright protection.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 2A. COPYRIGHT PROTECTION.

§47-2A-5. Works by State Government are not subject to copyright.

Copyright protection under this title or the federal copyright laws of the United States is not available for any work product of the West Virginia Government, its officers, or employees that are subject to FOIA. The types of works included in this prohibition include, but are not limited to, writings, images, photographs, graphic designs, and sound and video recordings. All such work is in the public domain. However, the state is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make all work product by State Government to be in the public domain and not subject to copyright protection.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.