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ARTICLE · 30 AUGUST 2018

Taking The Mystery Out Of Data Rights

Morrison Foerster
Morrison Foerster
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Morrison Foerster

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Rights in technical data and computer software are increasingly a topic of dispute between contractors and the Government, particularly the Department of Defense (DOD).

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector
W. Jay DeVecchio
W. Jay DeVecchio
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Rights in technical data and computer software are increasingly a topic of dispute between contractors and the Government, particularly the Department of Defense (DOD). This is because of three forces: (1) congressional and DOD initiatives to acquire rights in data and software sufficient to implement DOD's modular open systems approach, which is intended to allow DOD to swap one supplier's subsystems with another's; (2) independent, overreaching actions by DOD contracting activities to acquire operation, maintenance, installation, and training data they claim to need for long-term support; and (3) the escalating practice of agencies seeking priced options from contractors to relinquish data rights in exchange for more favorable best value evaluations.

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