The WG "Publishing and Legal Matters" had the preliminary mission to deal with the consistent assignment of the Digital Object Identifier (DOT) framework for IGGOS products and the usage of Data Set Citation rules in metadata documents for the definition and realization of copyright, data access, publishing and certification objectives (see Terms of Reference). Originally, the WG was called "Copyright, Data Access Policy, Publishing, Certification", and the name was changed to the current one at the First GGOS Workshop. The WG was abondoned in May 2006.

The WG membership was never fully formalized. The WG had one meeting on 16 December 2004 in San Francisco. The minutes give an overview of the topics and issues addressed by the group.

The WG was working on the following issues:

• The GGOS Data Access Policy
• Identification of digital objects in the frame of GGOS
• Validation, integrity and certification of GGOS products
• Copyright, citation rules, and publishing

Together with the GGOS "User Linkage and Outreach" WG, the WG was also actively involved in the GGOS initiative to become a member of the Integrated Global Observing Observing Strategy Partnership (IGOS-P). For more information see the respective page.