Legal and rights information · reviewed 7 August 2026
Copyright and reuse
What belongs to SCRIBE, what remains controlled by third parties and how to request permission or report a rights problem.
SCRIBE publishes original research writing, editorial design and project-created graphics alongside third-party sources and media used under their own licences, permissions or public-domain rules.
SCRIBE original material
Unless a page says otherwise, original SCRIBE-written text, original site design, original diagrams and project-created graphics are protected by copyright. © 2026 SCRIBE / Gavin Lee.
You may link to SCRIBE pages and quote reasonable extracts for criticism, review, reporting, research or discussion where the law allows, with a clear link or credit to the relevant SCRIBE page. This page does not expand or restrict statutory copyright exceptions.
For republication, commercial reuse, substantial copying, adaptation or use of original SCRIBE material outside an applicable legal exception, contact SCRIBE for permission.
Third-party images, maps, documents and media
Not every image, map, document, photograph, video or source displayed by SCRIBE belongs to SCRIBE.
Third-party material remains subject to the rights shown in its credit, source record or licence. This includes material from organisations and collections such as NASA, NOAA, USGS, JPL, Wikimedia Commons and other research or archive sources.
A SCRIBE copyright notice does not override a third party’s licence, public-domain status, attribution requirement or other rights. Anyone reusing third-party material should follow the original source and licence rather than treating SCRIBE as the rights holder.
Open-licence material
Where material is used under a Creative Commons or other open licence, the applicable licence continues to govern that material. Credits and licence links should be preserved, and any share-alike or change-notification conditions must be followed where applicable.
Public-domain and government material
Some government material used by SCRIBE may be public domain or available for factual or editorial use under the relevant agency’s media rules. Agency names, logos, trademarks, identifiable people and third-party material can carry separate restrictions. Use of such material by SCRIBE does not imply government endorsement of SCRIBE.
Research sources
Linking to or citing a paper, report, archive, dataset or document does not mean SCRIBE owns the underlying work or grants permission to republish it. Source credibility and publication rights are separate questions.
Contributor material
Material sent to SCRIBE for private review is not automatically licensed for public publication. Where contributor material is published, SCRIBE will retain a specific permission or another verified rights basis for that use.
Artificial intelligence and illustrative material
Generated, AI-assisted, reconstructed or illustrative material is labelled where needed by SCRIBE’s editorial policy. Such a label does not guarantee that every conceivable third-party right is absent; public use remains subject to the project’s rights and evidence controls.
Trademarks and names
SCRIBE’s project branding and original graphical treatment are controlled by the project. This page does not claim that the word “SCRIBE” is exclusively owned as a trademark in every context or territory.
Report a rights problem
If you believe SCRIBE has used material incorrectly, missed a credit or needs to correct a licence or attribution, use the Contact and Corrections page and select the rights or attribution option. Include the page URL, the material concerned and evidence of the relevant rights where possible.