FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 27: Patents, Data, and Copyrights › Subpart 27.4
FAR 27.405-2 Existing works.
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 tells contracting officers when to use the clause at 52.227-18, Rights in Data—Existing Works. That clause applies to contracts that acquire existing works without modifying them, such as films, recordings, and literary or artistic works. It also notes that the contract may include limitations on how the works are used, and that modified works are handled under a different section.
Applies to: Contracts exclusively for the acquisition of existing works without modification
Key terms: existing works · Rights in Data—Existing Works · 52.227-18 · modification · limitations
Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.
The text
The clause at 52.227-18, Rights in Data—Existing Works, is for use in contracts exclusively for the acquisition (without modification) of existing works such as, motion pictures, television recordings, and other audiovisual works; sound recordings; musical, dramatic, and literary works; pantomimes and choreographic works; pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; and works of a similar nature. The contract may set forth limitations consistent with the purposes for which the works covered by the contract are being acquired. Examples of these limitations are means of exhibition or transmission, time, type of audience, and geographical location. However, if the contract requires that works of the type indicated in this paragraph are to be modified through editing, translation, or addition of subject matter, etc. (rather than purchased in existing form), then see 27.405-1.
← 27.405-1 Special works. · 27.405-3 Commercial 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.