by Exotica Esoterica

Having asked politely in the introduction to the website that individuals/entities not use our copywrited images, text and trademarks without prior authorization and having recently found an annoying number of thefts of our material on the internet that are usually associated with ornamental plant sales scams, we’ve quite had it with image and text pilferage.

Potential buyers should take note that commercial nursery, livestock or plant flipping image and other content thieves are likely to indulge in other unsavory business practices that will likely leave you defrauded. Buyer beware who you are dealing with. If someone has to surreptitiously “borrow” an image from this or any other website to deceptively market their products, could they possibly have the desired plant or animal in question that they’re trying to sell you?

We have recently contacted a number of individuals and companies that had posted images stolen from this site and told them, in no uncertain terms, that they would be called out if they did not immediately remove the misappropriated content. While this has proven a fairly effective tactic so far, we are done warning people via email not to steal our content. Unbelievably, several of these aggrieved thieves have had the audacity to complain that we were “rude” or “confrontational” when insisting that they take down stolen intellectual property (IP).

Boo-hoo.

Since some seem to feel so strongly that “What’s yours is mine”, we’re sure they’ll also reciprocate by politely welcoming thieves into their nurseries, private collections, homes, and websites to help themselves to these people’s property.

Fair warning. We intend to post all examples of copyrighted image and text content violation by domestic and foreign plant vendors as well as individual bloggers, together with the identities of these offenders and screenshots that evidence misappropriated material, that are reported to us. These will remain posted here until such time as remedied to our complete satisfaction.

US copyright violations will, at our discretion, be addressed via communication by our legal counsel. This is not an idle statement: Exotica Esoterica® is registered as such with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO - feel free to verify this on their website) and is well-positioned to press cases of clear trademark™ and copyright© infringement. Screen image capture is a very useful legal tool for aggrieved parties seeking monetary remedy in the U.S.

To those contemplating image or other intellectual property (IP) theft from Exotica Esoterica, LLC® and ©contributors, we suggest that you conduct a cost-benefit analysis in terms of reputational risk, aggravation and financial loss prior to doing so. No effort nor expense will be spared to bring you to heel. I will most assuredly go out of my way to be as unpleasant as possible.

You will not enjoy the experience.

Exotica Esoterica, LLC®

IP THEFT WALL OF SHAME - 2023

Unsurprisingly, most cases of unauthorized use of our images come from outside the U.S. But there certainly are exceptions.

No more warnings, folks.

Here is a recent example of a U.S. plant vendor that has posted a copyrighted image of a founder specimen plant of mine – without my permission – to advertise their aroid seedlings for sale on Etsy. Feel free to draw your own conclusions as to why any ornamental plant seller would feel the need to misappropriate someone else's image/s to advertise their products.

The image displayed by them was clearly copied by “someone” from a heavily-trafficked article on this website and (mis)used for commercial purposes. The uncropped, original version – dated 2015 – is stored in my photo database and is shown in the second image. Their commercial post on this particular ecommerce site that I screenshot and posted here was first timestamped September 07, 2023 at 1510 hrs.

A day later and in response to my notice that it was stolen IP, and to remove it immediately that was made via Etsy’s internal messaging feature, the silly response I received from the vendor was, “…I have spoken with our inventory manager so that he can get this removed for you.” When I received this message, I re-confirmed that the image and offering was still up and screenshot evidence of this on the morning of September 08. From personal experience I know that taking down an image on Etsy or eBay and replacing it with another takes about 30 seconds once you log into your account. The notion that a small business owner cannot immediately correct a bad listing on an ecommerce site, but rather needs a third party to do so for them when time is of the essence is, frankly, a ludicrous one.

Given the disingenuous and unsatisfactory response I received, this example – together with any other examples that I come across going forward – will remain posted as a permanent cautionary tale to others that might be tempted to do likewise.

To all the would-be free riders out there in there in InternetLand who think it’s OK to rip off others’ Intellectual Property for commercial gain, FAFO.