1. The rule is not “unknown means free”
Some individual words, titles, slogans, and short phrases do not contain enough authorship for U.S. copyright protection. That does not create a blanket rule for every quotation. A longer passage can be protected, and an anonymous or unidentified author does not automatically place a work in the public domain. Anonymous works can remain protected for a statutory term.
The U.S. Copyright Office also explains that fair use depends on all the circumstances; there is no fixed number of words or percentage that is always safe. The catalogue therefore uses source, age, work type, length, context, and purpose together rather than relying on a slogan about “free quotes.”
2. Rights labels used by the catalogue
- public_domain
- The cited work is treated as outside copyright protection, usually because its term expired.
- us_government_work
- The quoted material was created by a U.S. federal employee as part of official duties and is treated under 17 U.S.C. § 105.
- third_party_excerpt
- A limited excerpt from a work that may still be protected, shown with source and contextual information for attribution, commentary, and discovery.
- user_submitted
- Material provided with a rights attestation and reviewed before publication.
- unknown
- Rights have not been established. These records are not publishable under the catalogue guard.
Attribution confidence is separate. “Traditional,” “unverified,” “disputed,” or “misattributed” describes the evidence about authorship, not permission to reproduce a work.
3. Source and excerpt practices
- Traceable records link to the cited work or an authoritative transcript whenever practical.
- Modern third-party material is limited to brief prose excerpts and is not accepted merely because it appears on another quote site.
- Song lyrics and poetry are not accepted through the normal excerpt path.
- Contested or corrected attributions carry a note instead of silently presenting certainty.
- A source-verification check confirms that cited words appear at the cited location; editorial review still determines whose words they are.
4. Report an error or rights concern
Send a notice to data@justdrops.app with the quotation, its page URL or database identifier, the basis for the request, your name and contact information, relevant source or ownership evidence, and the change you request. Please state whether the issue concerns attribution, privacy, copyright, trademark, or another right.
Just Brands, LLC will acknowledge and review a sufficiently detailed notice. Filing a notice does not automatically hide a record; preservation, correction, source replacement, annotation, restriction, or removal will depend on the evidence and applicable law. Knowingly false or abusive notices may be rejected.