It’s the key revenue model.
Bremer 19 – Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame, J.D. from New York University.
Emily S. Bremer, “Technical Standards Meet Administrative Law: A Teaching Guide on Incorporation by Reference,” Notre Dame Law School Scholarship, https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1406/
The copyright issue is intimately related to the matter of funding the standard-setting process. As previously noted, the revenue model most SSOs have adopted relies heavily on the revenue generated from the sale of standards. Copyright protects this model. When you think of counterfeit products, you generally think of things like Louis Vuitton handbags. But standards get counterfeited, too! For example, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has had problems with people selling counterfeit copies of the National Electric Code. 73 NFPA's ability to enforce its copyright protects the SSO's primary funding source and helps to prevent the dissemination of potentially erroneous copies of its standards.