S2E3 – Changes Ahead: Intellectual Property Rights and the Future of the Guidelines

Introduction

There’s a seismic shift happening in the codes and standards development legal landscape as courts back away from the longstanding precedent of protecting copyrights. As a result, some entities now post what was protected content, seemingly in partnership with standards development organizations, in order to sell their own products. In reality, standards development organizations like FGI have no oversight on how their code content is used outside of its own platforms and publications. CEO Heather Livingston discusses FGI’s unusual approach to making sure that everyone involved in health and residential care design and construction has access to accurate and complete code requirements straight from the source. 

About Heather Livingston, MSL

Heather Livingston, MSL, was promoted from chief operating officer and managing editor to CEO on July 1, 2023. Heather began working for FGI as a part-time editor in 2011. In 2018, she was promoted to director of operations and managing editor. In her role as director of operations, she instituted business development improvements and processes that proved critical to helping FGI boost revenues and gain financial independence. As managing editor, she oversaw the publication of the 2022 Guidelines and the white paper “Guidance for Designing Health and Residential Care Facilities that Respond and Adapt to Emergency Conditions,” which was created to provide practical guidance on setting up temporary facilities and adapting existing health and residential care facilities to meet the needs of various emergency conditions. 

As chief operating officer, Heather led the effort to create FGI’s digital library and e-commerce site, a project that enabled users of the Guidelines to access all FGI content from one website. Heather holds a Master of Studies in Law from Wake Forest University. As CEO, she continues to develop and direct strategic initiatives to ensure the organization’s financial and operational excellence. 

 

Acronyms Mentioned 

FGI: Facility Guidelines Institute 

AIA: The American Institute of Architects 

HGRC: Health Guidelines Revision Committee 

ASHE: The American Society for Health Care Engineering 

NFPA: National Fire Protection Association 

ICC: International Code Council 

AI: Artificial Intelligence 

 

Mentioned in this episode

Ape Cave 

Jesse James 

Rizzoli Bookstore 

Pamela Blumgart 

Hill-Burton Act 

Committee for Architecture on Health 

Academy of Architecture for Health 

Doug Erickson 

Armand Burgun 

Joe Sprague 

FGI Facility Codes 

Pro Codes Act 

Electronic Frontier Foundation 

 

AIA self-reporting LUs

Facility Guidelines Institute is a registered provider of AIA-approved continuing education under Provider Number 38744124. All registered AIA CES Providers must comply with the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs. Any questions or concerns about this provider or this learning program may be sent to AIA CES (cessupport@aia.org). 

This learning program may be self-reported for LU credit through the AIA Continuing Education System. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or construed to be an approval or endorsement by the AIA. 

To receive AIA self-reported LUs, learners must complete and self-report two of these entire learning programs for 1 LU. 

 

Sponsored by

American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE): Optimizing health care facilities

 

 

 

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