FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 27: Patents, Data, and Copyrights › Subpart 27.4
FAR 27.404-1 Unlimited rights data.
The codified text (eCFR, as of 2026-10-02). Under the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul ↗, agencies follow class deviations with new text for many parts while the formal rules go through the Federal Register: check the solicitation and your contract's clauses, which rule.
In plain English
This section says the Government gets unlimited rights in certain types of data produced or delivered under a contract, unless the data are copyrighted works covered by 27.404-3. It matters because it tells contractors which data the Government can use, disclose, reproduce, and distribute without restriction.
Applies to: Data acquired or delivered under a Government contract
Key terms: unlimited rights · data first produced · form, fit, and function data · limited rights data · restricted computer software
Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.
The text
The Government acquires unlimited rights in the following data except for copyrighted works as provided in 27.404-3:
(a) Data first produced in the performance of a contract (except to the extent the data constitute minor modifications to data that are limited rights data or restricted computer software).
(b) Form, fit, and function data delivered under contract.
(c) Data (except as may be included with restricted computer software) that constitute manuals or instructional and training material for installation, operation, or routine maintenance and repair of items, components, or processes delivered or furnished for use under a contract.
(d) All other data delivered under the contract other than limited rights data or restricted computer software (see 27.404-2).
← 27.404 Basic rights in data clause. · 27.404-2 Limited rights data and restricted computer software. →
Rule changes for FAR Part 27
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul Parts 9, 27, and 47 ↗ · proposed 2026-09-18 · comments due 2026-10-19
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer Programs ↗ · proposed 2025-06-12
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Controlled Unclassified Information ↗ · proposed 2025-01-15 · comments due 2025-03-17
Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.