Software Engineering Institute

This report summarizes the significant technical and managerial considerations that affect the maintenance and enhancement of software. Prior work suggested that it is often in the acquisition of intellectual property needed to maintain and enhance software that data rights disputes arise between DoD and the private sector. For this reason, an understanding of DoD's maintenance and enhancement requirements is a necessary predicate toward shaping a data rights/software acquisition policy that achieves the proper balance between the intellectual property needs of DoD and the proprietary interests of private industry. A survey of software engineering literature revealed no study that addressed this important subject. Accordingly, the Software Licensing Project undertook to examine the issue itself. Although this report discusses technical and managerial issues, it is principally intended as a guide for lawyers and policymakers who deal with, and have regulatory responsibility for, software and data rights acquisition issues.