Using iNaturalist data and licensing issues

General
1

Hey! I recently updated the licensing on my observations to be fit for non-commercial use, so I’m still new to licensing.

I was wondering what constitues prohibited by law use of unlicensed iNat data. Suppose I’m researching the distribution of a novel plant species with citizen-science data. I query iNaturalist on observations of that species, download the data in the form of a point layer, and then use said data to produce maps and figures to illustrate my results. Does that query contain unlicensed observations? And, does the use of said unlicensed data in that form constitute a copyright violation?

Thanks!

(Note that I’m not refering to usage of photos or other recordings associated with the observations, just the location and the observation itself)

2

Researchers are encouraged to use iNat data that was sent to GBIF rather than data straight from iNat to avoid having to worry about that issue. Records sent to GBIF have permissions that allow use for research.

3

it depends on whether you queried for observations with particular licenses. for example: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?license=cc0,cc-by,cc-by-nc,cc-by-nc-nd,cc-by-nc-sa.

it depends on your use case. technically, there are some things that can’t really have a copyright (ex. facts), but there are other things that can be copyrighted. if you’re planning to publish your research in a particular publication, you should look at the guidelines for that particular publication, too.

4

I was wondering what constitues prohibited by law use of unlicensed iNat data.

Copyright law is different in different countries. In the US at least, data cannot be copyrighted (although the presentation of data can be), per Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. Which country’s copyright laws are you asking about?

5

Public web resources (.e.g., URLs to publicly visible pages) are routinely cited as “literature” in scientific publications. If it is publicly visible, I don’t think this can be prevented simply because the page owner marks it as “all rights reserved.” Just like a copyrighted book on a library shelf, one can cite an iNaturalist observation or other web page, and (fairly) represent any facts asserted therein - just not an image or copy of the page itself. (usual disclaimer: not a lawyer)