GBIF Policy on Data Sharing and Intellectual Property Rights 

• At the core of GBIF's work is enabling a positive and respectful data sharing- and- use environment that benefits science and society, and contributes to a sustainable future.
• The GBIF network handles only biodiversity data. GBIF does not deal with specimen holdings, nor with materials that are derived from biodiversity studies or from nature. Thus, GBIF-related Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and other legal issues are minimised to only those that apply to data.
• The GBIF Memorandum of UnderstandingMoU, Paragraph 8 governs GBIF with regard to IPR issues (see overleaf).
• GBIF is advised on issues associated with IPR by a pro bono Legal Advisory Group (proLEG) of 10 attorneys from all regions of the world.
• GBIF asserts no rights to the data shared via the GBIF network. Data providers retain all rights and responsibilities associated with the data they make available.
• GBIF's open access data policy is based on trust and good will. GBIF endorses the ethical use of data, and demands that data users provide attribution to the sources of data that they use (see the GBIF Data Use Agreement).
• GBIF strongly advocates for the open sharing of scientific data, especially when the research has been supported by public funds.
• GBIF does not operate as a commercial venture – it neither charges its users nor pays the data providers in the network.
• GBIF data-sharing services and GBIF-mediated data are global public goods.

GBIF policies on data sharing and intellectual property rights are available in a pamphlet.