Also, copyright laws apply to the Web as well as to printed matter. Everything is fairly straightforward except the issue of posting technical reports on the Web that have been published by professional societies or journals. If the document was written by NASA authors and has no distribution restrictions, then the entire report can be posted on the Web because the work is, by law, in the public domain. However, if the report was coauthored with a contractor, the copyright ownership depends on the stipulations of the contract with the contractor who performed the work. In general, NASA contractors may copyright their work, but the contract language usually gives the Government unlimited license to use the information.
Some contracts give contractors proprietary rights to the information.
That type of contract-generated information is restricted and must not be posted on the WWW without the permission of the copyright holder. Contracts that include Limited Exclusive Rights agreements not only give the contractor proprietary rights, but also may delay publication of any results. In most cases, the answer is the same as the previous answer, especially in reference to text-only documents in an HTML format. Check with the publisher before you post your article. If you fill out a C-22 form and file it with Publishing Services Coordination Office .