The above bill introduced in February 2024 would seemingly require an intellectual property license to develop a TGC 2019 course or similar course for another platform if passed. On its face it only applies to post-1990 designs but presumably a renovation might count. If so, it would effectively cover nearly everything. This seems like a power grab by golf course architects and owners.
Has anyone looked at this as a potential threat to the use and further development of golf simulators? Is there any organized effort among the golf sim and golf sim designer community to prevent this bill from being passed as drafted?
One counterargument to the bill is that LIDAR data and aerial pictures are in the public domain subject in some cases to use licenses. To my knowledge, we don't have laws requiring IP licenses to create a road map of the Skyline Parkway running through Virginia or a digital city map (e.g., for maps of New York that contain Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge etc. notwithstanding that these were substantial architectural achievements and undergo constant renovations).
Note that Congressman Jimmy Panetta, one of the cosponsors, represents California 19. California 19 includes Spyglass, Pebble Beach, Cypress Point etc. It is easy to speculate about his motivation.
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