ASC X12 Administrative
Policy and Procedure
Intellectual Property
DL2015-20
MAY 2015
DL2015-20
Copyright © 2015, Accredited Standards Committee X12 Incorporated, Format © 2015 Washington Publishing
Company. Exclusively published by the Washington Publishing Company. No part of this publication may
be distributed, posted, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means
without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
All rights reserved.
ASC X12 ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY AND PROCEDURE
ADP06
Table of Contents
1. Intellectual Property ................................................................................................. 1
1.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Background ....................................................................................................... 1
1.3. Patent Policy ..................................................................................................... 1
1.4. Copyright Policy ................................................................................................ 1
1.5. Fair Use Policy .................................................................................................. 2
1.6. Copyright Assertion Policy ................................................................................ 2
1.7. Procedures for Requesting Permission to Reproduce ASC X12 Materials ....... 3
1.8. Document History ............................................................................................. 3
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1 Intellectual Property
1.1 Introduction
The ASC X12 Board is responsible for this policy and publishes it for the benefit of the
members of ASC X12, its subcommittees, task groups, and interested individuals from
the general public who actively participate in ASC X12.
Organizations and individuals agree to be bound by these policies and to follow these
procedures when they apply for membership and when they renew an existing
membership.
Suggestions for improvements to this document are welcome. They may be submitted
at http://changerequest.x12.org.
1.2 Background
ASC X12's primary functions are the development of Standards and related products
and services. Such work products, referenced herein as intellectual property, are crucial
to the sustainability of ASC X12. This document describes the policies for protection
of the ASC X12 assets and the fair use of ASC X12 content, both copyrighted and
non-copyrighted. These policies are based on U.S copyright laws.
1.3 Patent Policy
As stated in the Organization and Procedures Manual (OPM), ASC X12 follows the
current ANSI Patent Policy. In the event it becomes necessary to interpret the ANSI
Patent Policy, the ASC X12 Board will review and consider, among other things, ANSI's
Guidelines for Implementation of the ANSI Patent Policy and other applicable ANSI
guidelines and explanatory materials.
1.4 Copyright Policy
All subcommittee-developed work products are copyrighted by ASC X12. The ASC
X12 Board may determine it in the best interest of ASC X12 to copyright other work
products or offerings.
ASC X12 actively enforces all copyrights and protects all copyrighted assets.
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1.5 Fair Use Policy
Fair Use of ASC X12 copyrighted materials may be granted in specific situations if
such use is in accordance with ASC X12's applicable policies and procedures.
Fair Use is permissible without written permission from ASC X12 in the following
situations:
• To reproduce small portions of properly cited ASC X12 material for criticism,
comment, news reporting, teaching or scholarship or research.
• In internal implementation documents (documents which are not distributed outside
of a single entity) which reference properly cited ASC X12 codes, code descriptions,
situational rules or other notes.
Fair Use may be granted based on written permission obtained in advance of the use
in the following situations:
• Use of any ASC X12 materials in any derivative work that will be distributed or made
available outside the corporate structure of the authoring organization.
• Reproduction of significant portions of ASC X12 material for any use, internal or
external.
1.6 Copyright Assertion Policy
As a condition of membership, members, and all member representatives, agree not
to assert copyright against ASC X12, other members or third parties based upon the
making, use, sale, reproduction, distribution, disclosure, display, and transmission, of
the ASC X12 Standard, or any other ASC X12 work or derivative. Members grant to
ASC X12, and to the extent such rights cannot be granted at the time of initial
membership or renewal, agree to grant to ASC X12 a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty
free, worldwide, non-exclusive license under its copyrights, with the right to sublicense,
to make, have made, use, distribute or sell, reproduce, display, disclose, perform,
transmit, improve and create derivative works based upon the Standard and the Change
Procedures for ASC X12 Standard. Members cannot revoke or modify this agreement
without giving up the rights of membership.
All material developed by ASC X12 members, staff or partners and published by ASC
X12 is the sole property of ASC X12. Members, collectively or individually, do not have
rights to such intellectual property and are not considered joint developers or joint
copyright holders for any draft, final or copyrighted ASC X12 work.
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1.7 Procedures for Requesting Permission to
Reproduce ASC X12 Materials
All parties requesting permission to reproduce copyrighted material must follow the
procedures defined by ASC X12. Those procedures apply to all draft, published, and
withdrawn ASC X12 products. An ASC X12 "product" is defined as anything resulting
from the effort of the ASC X12 subcommittees and anything so designated by the ASC
X12 Board.
To ensure convenient access, detailed procedures, including request forms, are
accessible online. The procedures and request forms are available at:
http://store.x12.org/store/ip-use.
1.8 Document History
• 05/11/2015: revised and approved by the ASC X12 Board
• 02/03/2011: revised and approved by the ASC X12 Steering Committee
• 10/09/2002: revised and approved by the ASC X12 Steering Committee
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