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Originally posted by Astralis

Copyright still pertains to the government. That entity owns it. They may relinquish the copyright, though, if they permit you to freely copy it and most government agencies do this so the precedent would be hard to get around if they decided to prosecute.

Non-profits, though, retain all copyright, even if they are government funded. There is no difference between a non-profit and for-profit business in terms of ownership. Someone still owns or controls it - and neither are the government.

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The Copyright Act of 1976 specifically exempts works created by the federal government from copyright protection, continuing a provision from the previous copyright acts. Section 105 states:

Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise. {FN38: 17 U.S.C. §105}

Section 101 clarifies what this includes:

A “work of the United States Government” is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties. {FN39: 17 U.S.C. §101}

Note that this is a special rule that federal government works are always in the “public domain.” Public domain works have no copyright owner, and anyone can use the work as they see fit without infringement. Besides federal government works, public domain works include those works so old that their copyright has expired, works that fell into the public domain because of a failure to comply with a requirement like notice or registration, and works whose authors have dedicated them to the public.

The 1976 Act is silent on whether the works of state or local governmental agencies can be copyrighted, but there are cases holding that works published by state or local governments are eligible for copyright protection.

II.D.2. Government Contract Works
The prohibition against copyrights for United States Government publications does not apply to the works produced under government contracts. This was discussed by the drafters of the Act:

A more difficult and far-reaching problem is whether the definition should be broadened to prohibit copyright in works prepared under U.S. Government contract or grant (non-profits receive funding from the governmetn through contracts and mostly grants - Astralis). As the bill is written, the Government agency concerned could determine in each case whether to allow an independent contractor or grantee, to secure copyright in works prepared in whole or in part with the use of Government funds... Source.

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