Article XIX settles who owns the work: The research, the publications, the software, the branding, and the Constitutional text itself. The answer is the Nonprofit, never any individual, even when artificial intelligence helped make it. The Founder is credited as the original architect, which is an honor carrying neither ownership nor power. Free to read is not the same as free to take. Criticism, teaching, scholarship, and even parody remain wide open, because a document about rewriting a country’s constitution has no business shielding itself from argument.
Section 19.1 Intellectual Property Ownership
All intellectual property created, developed, commissioned, or otherwise produced for ReDrafting America belongs exclusively to the Nonprofit. Applicable law and written agreements authorized under the transfer and licensing rules govern any exceptions.
The Nonprofit may provide free public access to its intellectual property under its Public Benefit Governance Model. Access permits viewing, reading, and noncommercial educational use unless the Nonprofit expressly authorizes broader rights. Access alone does not permit copying, modification, distribution, or derivative works.
The following non-exhaustive categories illustrate the Nonprofit’s intellectual property. They include any other intellectual property created to advance its Primary Mission.
- (a)web properties: the Official Website, domain names, and related web addresses
- (b)flagship mission products: Constitution v2.0, the Citizen Portal, UNID, and the Digital Constitutional Convention
- (c)publications and educational materials: Companion Guides, FAQs, related publications, and educational, research, and training materials
- (d)software and audiovisual materials: source code, applications, databases, digital platforms, graphics, recordings, animations, and other audiovisual works
- (e)brand assets: organizational and product names, trademarks, service marks, logos, slogans, trade dress, brand guidelines, and merchandise designs
- (f)inventions and confidential knowledge: inventions, patent applications, patents, technical designs, processes, trade secrets, and confidential know-how
Section 19.1.1 Creation and Assignment
Work created by an employee within their employment duties belongs to the Nonprofit when applicable law treats it as work made for hire. Every Official Representative creating intellectual property for the Nonprofit must sign any agreement needed to confirm or assign ownership before beginning that work. The agreement must assign all transferable rights the Nonprofit needs and require reasonable assistance with registrations or enforcement.
Preexisting intellectual property remains with its owner unless a signed agreement transfers it. Before incorporating such material, the agreement must define the Nonprofit’s license, restrictions, attribution duties, and continuing rights. The Nonprofit shall not claim ownership of third-party or open-source material and must comply with its governing terms.
Section 19.1.2 AI-Assisted Work
Intellectual property created with AI assistance to advance the Primary Mission belongs to the Nonprofit only to the extent permitted by law. Ownership remains subject to provider terms and third-party rights. AI assistance does not create ownership where protectable human authorship is absent.
The responsible human creator must document material AI use and the human contribution to the resulting work. The Nonprofit must review provider terms before incorporating AI output into an official deliverable. It must preserve provenance records reasonably needed to support ownership and permitted use.
Section 19.1.3 Public Submissions
Anyone submitting ideas, feedback, commentary, or proposed language through a Nonprofit public-participation channel grants the Nonprofit a nonexclusive license. This includes submissions through the Digital Constitutional Convention. The license is perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and sublicensable.
The license permits the Nonprofit to use, reproduce, adapt, incorporate, publish, distribute, display, and communicate the submission to advance its Primary Mission. The contributor retains all underlying rights not granted by the license. The submission process must display the license terms and record the contributor’s acceptance before accepting the submission. Contributors must identify known third-party material and confirm their authority to grant the license.
Section 19.2 Protection of Foundational Works
This Section protects the authenticity, integrity, and official status of the Nonprofit’s Foundational Works. It governs their designation, preservation, identification, and lawful public use.
Section 19.2.1 Designation and Preservation
The Foundational Works form part of the Nonprofit’s constitutional identity and historical record. The Nonprofit shall preserve their authenticity, integrity, and accurate public representation. It shall maintain and publicly identify the current official version of every Foundational Work.
For this Subsection, Foundational Works include Constitution v2.0, the Citizen Portal, UNID, Companion Guides, official constitutional commentaries, and foundational white papers. They also include works the Board of Directors designates by Board Resolution as foundational to the Primary Mission. The Board of Directors may revoke its own designation by Board Resolution but may not remove status from a work expressly named in these Bylaws.
Section 19.2.2 Official Status and Lawful Use
The Nonprofit shall use reasonable notices, version records, and other measures to distinguish official Foundational Works from unofficial material. It shall take reasonable action when someone falsely attributes, materially misrepresents, or presents altered material as an official Nonprofit publication.
This Subsection does not prohibit commentary, criticism, academic analysis, educational use, parody, or other lawful expression concerning a Foundational Work. Such expression may identify and quote the official work but must not be falsely represented as an official Nonprofit publication.
Section 19.3 Historical Authorship
The Nonprofit recognizes the Founding Director as the author of these Bylaws and the original author of Constitution v2.0. The same recognition extends to the Foundational Principles and the constitutional framework on which ReDrafting America was built.
That recognition is a record of where the work began. Every enduring institution starts with someone willing to write the first draft and sign their name to it. Naming that person accurately is part of keeping an honest history.
Recognition under this Section is honorary and historical. It creates no interest in the Nonprofit’s intellectual property.
Nor does it fix the work in place. Constitution v2.0 is written to be revised, expanded, and improved through the constitutional processes these Bylaws establish. Later editions and contributions shall be attributed accurately, and no collective work shall be credited to the Founder alone. The first draft is the beginning of a document, not the end of it. The Future Is Ours to ReWrite.
Section 19.4 Transfer and Licensing of Intellectual Property
This Section governs every transfer, assignment, and license of the Nonprofit’s intellectual property. It distinguishes ordinary licensing from protected-asset transactions and applies the approval safeguards appropriate to each.
Section 19.4.1 Authorization and Ordinary Licensing
No intellectual property of the Nonprofit may be transferred, assigned, or licensed without a written agreement expressly authorized by Board Resolution. No agreement may provide authority beyond what this Section permits.
The enhanced protected-asset requirements do not apply to a nonexclusive license of limited duration or to public access permitted by these Bylaws. They also do not apply to a license involving property not designated as a protected asset. Every such license remains subject to the written-authorization requirement.
Section 19.4.2 Protected-Asset Transactions
A transfer, assignment, or exclusive or perpetual license of a Foundational Work, Official Website, Citizen Portal, or UNID requires three-fourths of Voting Directors. Every Director must receive at least thirty days’ notice before the vote.
The proposal requires the applicable independent AI analyses and a written advisory opinion obtained by the Independent Review Panel, or by Independent Counsel when the Panel cannot act. The Nonprofit shall publish the opinion before approval. The opinion must address the proposal, reasonable alternatives, and consequences for the charitable mission. Qualified attorneys must provide any required legal advice under the legal-services procedures.
The Board of Directors must adopt written findings addressing fiduciary duties, Charitable Purposes, and applicable mission-preservation requirements. All other safeguards governing protected assets remain cumulative.
If the transaction also constitutes a merger, consolidation, or disposition of all or substantially all Nonprofit assets, the stricter major-transaction requirements apply. These include unanimous approval by all Voting Directors, the Member’s written approval, and mandatory written review by the Independent Review Panel, or by Independent Counsel when the Panel cannot act. Eligible participation must also meet the Quorum Governance threshold before Mission Fulfillment Conversion and, after it, every Mission Fulfillment Board position occupied and participating.
The borrowing and encumbrance rules govern an encumbrance of intellectual property. No Foundational Work may be encumbered.
End of Article XIX. Return to the TOC