Crown Copyright

Crown Copyright

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_copyright

" Crown copyright is a form of copyright claim used by the governments of a number of Commonwealth realms. It provides special copyright rules for the Crown (i.e., state entities). "

UK :

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/our-services/crown-copyright.htm

The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) at The National Archives manages Crown copyright and Crown database rights on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen in the following ways: We license a wide range of Crown copyright and Crown database right information through the Open Government Licence and the UK Government Licensing Framework We grant delegations of authority to government departments and agencies to enable them to license the information that they create or hold We regulate any government departments and agencies which have authority from us to license the information they create, through our Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS)

p2pfoundation blog posts :

http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-three-laws-of-open-government-data/2009/10/17