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United States · Bill · S

S. 835 (118th)

Pro Codes Act

referredUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

16 March 2023

Last action

16 March 2023 · Introduced

Status

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Sponsors

Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE], Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX], Sen. Tillis, Thomas [R-NC], Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI], Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI]

Subjects

Discovery layer

Source updated

10 August 2026

Summary

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.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

  1. 16 March 2023

    Introduced

    Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

    Source: IntroReferral

  2. 16 March 2023

    Introduced

    Introduced in Senate

    Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

Documents

3 official files

Introduced in Senate (text)

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  • Introduced in Senate (text)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 16 March 2023

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

  • Introduced in Senate (PDF)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 16 March 2023

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

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  • Introduced in Senate

    summary · EN · 16 March 2023

    Open at official source

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Sponsors

Related records

Sources

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