Legal problems can arise when geospatial information is used for land management, among other activities. Geospatial professionals may be liable for harm that results from flawed data or the misuse of data. Understanding of contract law and liability standards is essential to mitigate risks associated with the provision of geospatial information products and services. Legal relations between public and private organizations and individuals govern data access. The nature of information in general, and the characteristics of geospatial information in particular, make it an unusual and difficult subject for a legal regime that seeks to establish and enforce the type of exclusive control associated with other commodities. Geospatial information is in many ways unlike the kinds of works that intellectual property rights were intended to protect. Still, organizations can, and do, assert proprietary interests in geospatial information. Perspectives on geospatial information as property vary between the public and private sectors and between different countries.