Image Use Policy

About the Images on the Plant Delights Nursery Inc. Website

So, why should we care if you steal or use our images for free? Stealing intellectual property is the same as breaking into someone's home... only easier. The results are the same... you benefit through illegally obtaining and using something which is not yours. We often hear, 'I didn't use the images for malicious purposes.' Ah yes, the old Robin Hood theory... steal from the haves for use by the have-nots. These cases haven't held up too well in court. No matter how you spin it, it's stealing.

In the case of website use, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allows the owners of a stolen copyrighted image to require your ISP provider to either remove the stolen image or remove your website entirely. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA) We have found this very effective in gaining the attention of offending parties.

In the case of plants, images don't just happen. If they did, everyone would have them. To get a plant image, you first must have obtained or developed the plant. Next, you must have grown the plant and have it growing well enough to take a good image. Again, if everyone were a good gardener, then everyone could take their own images. Additionally, if you've mastered the above, you've still got to make sacrifices to get the images you want. That could be as simple as postponing a trip, meeting, or other social activity to snap an image of the plant at peak bloom. Then there are those pesky lighting issues that send you running outdoors before a cloud passes too far over and the bright sun re-appears. There are also those that travel and shoot images in the gardens of others. If you think this is free, think again. For those of us who have used slides most of our lives, we are still recovering those costs. Digital images certainly make it easier and less costly to discard the thousands of images that don't quite measure up. I hope this helps you understand the value of plant images.

How to Use PDN Images - See Guidelines Below

Group 1

• Educational/Research/Extension
• Non-Profit Organizations. Non-Commercial Use
• Publications about PDN or those featuring a plant that PDN sells
• Promotion for an event which PDN is sponsoring or participating
• Wholesale commercial use only of a plant for which PDN holds the patent or receives a royalty payment
• Individuals or businesses which regularly furnish us with images on an equal basis
• Individuals or businesses with which we have an established mutually beneficial agreement other than image exchange
• Personal, non-commercial use of the image

Group 2

• Commercial applications such as wholesale nursery tags, nursery catalogs, website - use is granted for one purpose only
• Magazines featuring plants that PDN does not currently sell
• Magazines writing about plants where PDN is listed as one of many sources but the other sources are not furnishing photos but will benefit from the use of a PDN photo
• Gardening books

Group 3

• Other retail mail order nurseries with whom we do not have an established exchange program
• Businesses whose reputations are less than stellar due to any number of circumspect activities

Group 4

• Individuals or businesses who have previously stolen images or used images without permission