Copyright infringement. What can you do if your work is illegally copied to furnish another website

I’ve recently discovered that a website in Belgium has illegally copied my plant descriptions and plant care advice for of over 3,800 plants, to furninsh their website.

I think it’s an absolute disgrace.  It cost tens of thousands of pounds to pay Authors and years of work to gather this data.

They have not been very subtle in the way they have copied my work. They have copied the plant description (including spelling mistakes and typos), Latin names explained, aspect , height etc including the source codes and simply put the data on their site so people to sign up for their website and Apps. The Apps have my data as well.

Fortunately I have Copyright transfer contracts with the Authors going back to 2001, so there is no doubt the text belongs to me.

The website in Belgium knew it was going to take them years to gather enough useful data to get their sites up and running so they decided to copy it for free instead. I’ve instructed a specialist Copyright Solicitor to write to them and have my data and images removed.

I’m interested to know does anyone else have silmilar situations where people steal your work?

Some people might suggest it’s a compliment to have ones work copied, but I don’t agree. It’s just greed. They are earning money from my work and saved years of work in doing so.

The site in Belgium also make out that they are a .org company in the attempt to make out they are an organisation. They are just three computer programmers who want to make a quik buck / Euro.

My specialist Copyright Solicitor is in contact the Company so I will be more than happy to share my experience with others in the same situation and with luck we can make it expensive and difficult for lazy people from doing this to others.

UPDATE:- The Belgium company have now removed the data and images from their sites. No apology though.

If you want to see my geniune site with in-depth plant descriptions, height, spread, aspect, etc please visit www.rightplants4me.co.uk  The site has over 3,800+ plants, mainly garden plants but also many other types such as weeds, trees, shrubs. Each plant has images to help with plant identification.

More plants are being added daily.

It’s free to browse but you can subscribe if you wan to be able to make plant lists and printable notes. I hope you find it useful.

The screen shot showing how you can search for plants.

Thank you

Best wishes

Neil

Right Plants 4 me. Free garden plant advice website

A year on and we’ve added and improved the www.rightplants4me.co.uk website.

It’s easy to find and identify garden plants as well as wildflowers and weeds.

Simply select plants by their name, flower and or leaf colour, period of interest, height, aspect and soil type.

You can nor make plants lists. (1) Plants I Have and (2) Plants I want

This is useful when designing your garden to have year round colour and interest.

You can print your plants I want lists and take it with you to the Garden Centre.

Plants I have shows you which plants you have in any chosen month AND it will also let you know which plants you have in any month that need pruning PLUS how to prune them correctly.

You can add your own personal note to any plant. I don’t like labels so I keep a record of my plants and where they are in the garden. This is very useful because for example Clematis look very similar when dormant, with my notes and reminder when to prune my plants I know exactly which Clematis needs pruning, where it is and how to prune it. Some need hard pruning becuase they flower on this years new growth whereas some flower on old wood.

Here is an Iris with a note added

I’ve added time lapses of plants growing and flowers opening. They show some of the fascinating growth and design.

I hope you fine the site useful.

I want to build the site so I’m keen to meet photographers and authors to help the site GROW.

Although the site has UK flowering and planting times, it won’t take too much work to make it specific for the US and European countries. Please let me know if this is of interest.

Best wishes

neil

Keeping your garden interesting isn’t difficult or expensive if you choose the right plants.

Adding colour and texture plants will keep your garden looking interesting at different times of the year and individual. It’s not difficult or expensive; it’s just knowing which plants to choose.

Ideally gardens should have some plants of interest at different times of the year rather than have a splash of colour in spring and then not much for the rest of the year.

There are so many plants to choose from which suit every colour, height, aspect and season.

 

I use shrubs to give my garden year round shape and colour and then position plants which come into flower, leaf colour, bark, berry or texture to add interest at intervals throughout the year.

 

Some plants are small plants for the front of the border like the viola ‘Bowles Black and iris reticulata ‘Pixie’

 

 

 

Some have colourful flowers like the Arisaema  or the Aloe

 

Some have leaf colour like this Acer  

Some add texture

Plants for the shade

Plants to attract butterflies

Deep ‘blacks’ to dainty whites    

 

I’ve designed a simple MAC & PC garden plant CD-Rom to help you find plants by colour, aspect, height and month to suit every garden aspect and seasonal need.

It’s not expensive and can help you create a beautiful garden using the right plants to suit your garden conditions. The latest garden software version has 3,500 plants and over 9,000 photographs. Each plant is accompanied with plant care and illustrated pruning advice.

Flower identification guide

 

The Complete gardens team have developed a mobile flower identification guide that works on a ‘blackberry’ hand held unit.

This nifty garden software allows the user to identify plants and flowers whilst out and about, for example when they are enjoying the stunning show gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show or Hampton Court Flower Show, RHS Wisley gardens etc. It is possible to identify plants from annuals, perennials, shrubs as well as trees by simply selecting any combination of flower or leaf colour, height, flowering period, leaf type, Latin or common name.

By being able to identifying and record the plants seen in spectacular gardens, designed by top Garden Designers, gives any garden enthusiasts or would be gardener, whatever their level of experience to be able to create a garden style using the right plants to create stylesfrom a small low maintenance garden design to a Japanese garden style with delicate use of Acers, or larger landscape gardening to a colourful English cottage garden flower display

The portable software used in conjunction with the PC and MAC compatible award winning Complete Gardens plant database, not only with the user be able to use the plant finder software to find the right plants, it also has gardening tips and illustrated pruning advice to keep the plants looking their best. Plant lists and personal notes can be printed with images.

The portable software used in a ‘Blackberry’  means there are not heavy books to carry around and the PC & MAC compatible CD-ROM has the additional features.

A perfect combination and a special garden gift Ideal for garden design students, Garden Designers and for home use.

The portable software and CD-ROM have 3,500 plants and 9,000 high quality photographs

We have a new dedicated Mac Leopard universal garden software version with the same plant finder and pruning tips as above at an introductory £10.00 off offer. 

www.complete-gardens.co.uk