Legal Aspects of GeospatiaL Information

Liability

Liability laws apply to organizations that use, sell, or give geographic information as well as to purveyors of GIS software. U.S. courts have held GIS providers liable and determined that they should bear some financial responsibility for damages if their actions result in mistakes that damage or harm others. Evolving case law deals with GIS such as aeronautical and navigational maps, subjecting them to product liability laws. State and local agencies that sell geographic information at a profit most likely face greater liability than agencies that disseminate the information at cost, release information according to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) rules, or provide data for free.

Public Access and Data Ownership

Property rights are at the heart of issues related to law as these rights are related to the ownership of geographic information. In the case of geographic information, the owner of the data set also owns the copyright to the information; thus, ownership confers exclusivity of use and control of the information. The U.S. federal government cannot legally copyright the data it collects; furthermore, the FOIA requires that data sell for no more than the cost required to reproduce them. In contrast, U.S. state and local governments can legally own data, and some have used the sale of geographic information as a means to generate revenues. Records whose dissemination may pose a threat to national security may be withheld from use outside their originally intended purposes; however, the legal process permits individuals or organizations to petition for the release of withheld information.

Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual property rights apply to several different fruits of intellectual labor: (a) original works of authorship, (b) functional inventions, [Page 1771](c) trademarks, and (d) trade secrets. Among these, it is the first, original works of authorship, that is most applicable to GIS. Traditional criminal law related to intellectual property rights is designed to handle rights associated with tangible objects, such as the physical written word; thus, it is ill prepared to address GIS data and information. Today, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), under the auspices of the United Nations since 1974, is addressing the unique issue of digital intellectual property under its “Digital Agenda.”

Copyright

Copyright is the legal means to protect intellectual property rights of original works of authorship, including GIS data and products. Copyright protection automatically resides in original works of authorship, with no mark or notice required. While publication is not a prerequisite for copyright protection, copyrighted work must be in a tangible and identifiable physical form. Paper maps were first covered by copyright protection as pieces of literature or art, under the Berne Convention of 1886. Today, digital mapping media and GIS data sets and software also meet this standard. In the United States, a copyright is valid as long as its last author survives and remains valid for an additional 70 years. The copyright on a work “made for hire” lasts for 75 years from its date of publication or for 100 years from the date it was created, whichever comes first.

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