Sponsors
The bill makes civilian USUHS works federal and royalty-free to accelerate and reduce the cost of federal use of medical education and research, but it does so by eliminating authors' ability to earn royalties and limiting exclusivity for commercial publishers.
Federal agencies, clinicians, and patients: USUHS civilian-authored works become federal works and can be used and shared more widely without royalty, which can speed dissemination of medical education, guidance, and research findings across federal health programs.
Federal programs and hospitals that rely on federal training materials: gain royalty-free access to USUHS-created curricula and guidance, reducing licensing costs for federal training and health operations.
Civilian USUHS authors and some researchers: lose the ability to license or receive royalties for works produced as part of their employment, reducing potential supplemental income and financial incentives for some faculty.
Private publishers and other commercial users: face reduced ability to obtain exclusive rights to certain USUHS works, which may limit commercial publication options or revenue opportunities for those firms.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adds USUHS civilian-faculty works made in the course of employment to the list of U.S. Government works, removing U.S. copyright protection and allowing royalty-free federal use.
Introduced December 11, 2025 by Donald J. Bacon · Last progress December 11, 2025
Adds the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) to the list of federal entities whose works are treated as works of the United States, so certain written works created by civilian faculty as part of their job are not subject to U.S. copyright and can be used by the federal government without royalties. The amendment also renumbers related cross-references in the existing statute to keep internal citations accurate. This change mainly affects civilian faculty at USUHS, federal agencies that might use those works, and third parties who publish or license faculty-created materials, especially when works are created jointly with nonfederal authors or used for commercialization.