Copyright Infringement Alert!

When you have a website like mine, lots of people tell me about things which are happening which need to be shared with a wider audience. Below I am going to highlight a specific example relating to copyright infringement which affects quite a lot of leading botanical artists.

One such 'thing' is when the artwork of botanical artists is posted online by other people without the artists permission.  I find artists are very protective of the artwork of other artists and are happy to highlight examples of individuals who post images they did not make and do not own on social media in an inappropriate way.

​This used to happen a lot on blogs in the past - and now it tends to happen on sites like Facebook and Instagram and Pinterest

This is despite the fact that the community guidelines for the use of the site - which you must agree to before you become a member - make it clear that you should only upload images you own or have the right to share (eg image is in the public domain).

So, for example, this is the guideline from Instagram. 

"Share only photos and videos that you’ve taken or have the right to share.
As always, you own the content you post on Instagram. Remember to post authentic content, and don’t post anything you’ve copied or collected from the Internet that you don’t have the right to post. Learn more about intellectual property rights." Instagram Community Guidelines

People may post images they shouldn't be sharing online for one or more of three reasons:

• they never read the terms and conditions of the site
• they are ignorant of the law and regulations relating to copyright
• they are intent on building a following so they can start generating income from their account (and YOUR CONTENT!).

My view is that we need to be aware of all those abuse the trust of others - in posting their artwork online - and should take appropriate action. Hence this post.

What you do is entirely up to you - but I have a couple of suggestions below.

About flora_et_fauna88
​

It's been drawn to my attention that an Instagram account called " flora_et_fauna88 " is regularly posting the artwork of various botanical artists (see below for names) to Instagram - some of whom have NOT posted the image in question to Instagram. 

This may be due to ignorance - not everybody is aware of copyright and some "fabs" appear to be completely unaware of copyright. These people tend to take down images as soon as they are alerted to the problem. In this instance, the account holder was notified that s/he was infringing copyright I was told - and the images are still online.

However in this instance the practice of posting images not belonging to the account holder is systematic in a way similar to the tactics used by those trying to build a following so they can generate income via Instagram.

S/he is also following many of the top botanical artists.

I noted that botanical artists affected i.e. with their artwork posted to this account (from posts between September and December 2019) included the following artists:

• Gael Sellwood (lots),
• Heeyoung Kim,
• Angela Lober,
• Vicki Thomas,
• Annie Hughes,
• Dianne Sutherland,
• Coral Guest,
• Fiona Strickland,
• Anne Pieussergues Dherbicourt,
• Carol Woodin (lots),
• Phansakdi Chakkaphak,
• Lizzie Sanders (lots),
• Alice Harman,
• Kate Nessler,
• Elizabeth Dowle,
• Regine Hagedorn
• Pandora Sellars

Now I know for a fact (as did the person who reported the problem to me) that some of the people listed above take a VERY dim view of their artwork being reproduced without permission or a proper "fair use" exemption.

Options for blocking or reporting the account

You may wish to think about

• clicking the 3 dots in the top right hand corner of the account profile and
• EITHER Blocking this account - to avoid indiscriminate "scraping" via your Instagram account
• AND/OR Reporting this account to Instagram - if your find you art posted and consider that your copyright has been infringed / it has breached community guidelines

What tends to happen is that if multiple reports of copyright infringement are made by different people then the account may be suspended or locked.

Note that as and when you block someone on Instagram,

• that person won't be able to find your profile, posts or story on Instagram.
• People also aren't notified when you block them.

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However that does not stop people from scraping your website - in which case you should report them - ideally via Google.

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Find out more about copyright infringement and what to do about it
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You can find out more about Copyright and Copyright Infringement and what to do about it on my Art Business Info for Artists website - in the Copyright section

A proper "fair use" exemption does not exist in the instance cited above i.e there is no 

• Criticism and commentary
• News reporting
• Research and scholarship
• Nonprofit educational uses
• Parody

Many nonlawyers believe that the unauthorized use of a copyrighted work is permitted if an acknowledgment is made as to the source. This is not true.
Acknowledgment of source material (such as citing the author or the publication) may be a consideration in a fair use determination, but it will not protect against a claim of infringement.
Fair Use: The Four Factors Courts Consider in a Copyright Infringement Case | NOLO

My website includes a page about What to do about copyright infringement - for artists - if your artwork is stolen or plagiarised