This came though the email list of the National BIM Standard group, and I found it thought provoking. It's from an architect who works for the general services division of a state government. (I've removed the reference to the particular state.)
As far as standard legal agreements addressing sharing of BIM and even CAD information, indemnifying the authors, etc., we... are attempting to take the long view and streamline the inevitable argument over whether the architect will give or sell to the contractor(s) CAD (or BIM) files for use in creating coordination drawings, shop drawings, etc. We’ve found great inconsistencies in the disclaimer forms our architectural firms are asking contractors to sign, as well as the amounts they are asking for to burn a CD, and believe it’s in everyone’s interest to write a standardized passage in our General Conditions that will eventually be tested and proven. Not to mention the potential for delays while these negotiations occur. And since the State has asserted ownership of the contract documents, and the architects are only asking for the contractor to indemnify them, the State is exposed to claims from errors in the documents/electronic files. Hopefully once all parties have legal protections, and a set of reasonable expectations, information sharing can become the norm rather than the exception. Of course we need to also address the fact that the contractor needs to share the information they’ve added with the owner/agency for use in managing the facility. Please understand that we are writing this in the language of today’s practice, but hope it will to begin to educate and train our folks for the coming paradigm shift. We are hoping to post the new documents for review by the end of the summer.