ISO is likely a driver behind this. From the article: > This is where things get wonky. Since many of these standards are put together by private organizations

ISO is likely a driver behind this. From the article: > This is where things get wonky. Since many of these standards are put together by private organizations (companies, standards bodies, whatever), some of them could qualify for copyright. But, then, lawmakers will often require certain products and services to meet those standards. That is, the laws will “reference” those standards (for example, how to have a building be built in a safe or non-polluting manner). > [...] > Still, that did not get at the specific issue of “incorporation by reference” which is at the heart of some of Malamud’s other cases. Two years ago, there was a pretty big victory, noting that his publishing of standards that are “incorporated by reference” is fair use. > [...] often a large part of [industry standards bodies] own revenue stream comes from selling access to the standards they create, including those referenced by laws. > So they lobbied Congress to push this Pro Codes Act, which explicitly says that technical standards incorporated by reference retain copyright. To try to stave off criticism (and to mischaracterize the bill publicly), the law says that standards bodies retain the copyright if the standards body makes the standard available on a free publicly accessible online source.