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N
Nature1213
Known Participant
February 18, 2023
Answered

Doubt regarding copyright

  • February 18, 2023
  • 5 replies
  • 3623 views

Buenas noches gente de la comunidad de Adobe, tengo una duda muy grande que me gustaría que me ayudaran a resolver respecto a los formatos libres y formatos propietarios.

¿El JPG tiene licencia libre o tiene derechos de algún tipo?

He estado mirando el tipo de formato de video de Adobe y la mayoría de ellos son H.264, ¿este formato es gratuito (según wikipedia) o ya no lo es? ¿Cómo sube la gente los videos y no reclamos de derechos de autor? ¿Qué formato libre aceptado por Adobe podría usar para subir los videos? sin correr el riesgo de que tenga reclamos de derechos de autor?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Abambo

I really like your answer and it clears up many doubts, and I thank you very much, I think I should end this post, because if I uploaded a video in any format, nothing would happen because Adobe has all the necessary licenses.


Nothing will happen because:

  • the tools you use to create the video have the licences, so you can create without fear.
  • Adobe has the licences and
  • the buyer's player amd tool have the licences.

A non juristic argument is, that you are a too small fish for any patent troll. Microsoft sometimes pays some cash, because the lawsuits cost more, but be assured, patent trolls know that you and I, we do not have a dime to spend. And that even if we would use a tool without the proper licence. 

5 replies

Abambo
Community Expert
AbamboCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 20, 2023

check here for additional information on the h264 codec: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Video_Coding

and here for JPEG: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG

 

BTW: you are a to small target for patent trolls. Not that this should encourage you to infringe on known patents, but your expected exposure is limited. 

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
    George_F
    Community Expert
    George_FCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 18, 2023

    I'm going to speak with a lot of hearsay here, so make sure to confirm my findings.  I definitely could be wrong here.

     

    Im fairly sure any necessary licensing needed for a file format that is included in the program you used to edit would be handled by the software developer.  Just like a font, etc.  But I'm also fairly sure that the jpeg standard is open to use without a license, at least in the US.

     

    Again, I could be wrong.  But that's my understanding.  I bet @Abambo knows a bit about this.

    George F, Photographer & Forum Volunteer
    Abambo
    Community Expert
    AbamboCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 19, 2023
    quote

    Im fairly sure any necessary licensing needed for a file format that is included in the program you used to edit would be handled by the software developer.


    By @George_F

     

    You are quite correct. There are two kinds of right attached to different items. One is copyright, the other one is patent law.

     

    Copyright is ruled by the Berne convention, other international conventions and the resulting local laws. As there may be differences in the rights attached, from country to country, you can be sure that the copyright as such works always the same:

    • Copyright is attributed by the creation. For some kinds of creation, a certain level of creativity needs to be proven, but even a children's drawing is protected by copyright.
    • It's automatic and without any registration.
    • For all countries adhering to the Berne convention, the rights are quite equivalent.
    • Inventions are not copyrighted, designs are.
    • Computer programs and databases are copyrighted.

     

    Patent law is highly national, there are very few international conventions regarding patents. For being awarded a patent, the patent needs to be a novice, non-trivial approach to solve a technical problem. Patents are quite rigid. You have to apply for a patent in all countries where you want patent protection, you have to respect the local laws, and you must pay a yearly fee. So, patents are quite costly. Patents give you a protection for 20 or 25 years from the data of the application, and you need to publish in your patent the relevant information, so that a trained person can rebuild your invention. Patents on software were long not possible, but they are now. One of the most known patent was that of the LZW compression used a bit everywhere, but especially with the GIF format.

     

    At the moment of implementation of the GIF format, it was thought that the LZW algorithm was free of patents, so it got widely used by CompuServe and later by the WWW. So at some time may Website owners got a letter from the lawyers of UNISYS, the LZW-patent-holder, to pay royalties. At the end, UNISYS was happy with getting royalties from companies like Microsoft and Adobe and others on behalf of their users. Free software was left out. And during the evolution of this case, a new standard emerged, that was free of the LZW patent rights: PNG. The LZW patents are now in the public domain, so anyone can use that method to build a compression tool.

     

    So, patents do two things: they reward inventors so that they can get a living. Every so often, they also reward patent trolls! And they drive innovation, as other parties are trying to work around patents.

     

    h264 is loaded with many patents. To avoid having to deal with hundreds of companies, the royalty collection for h264 is managed by a consortium, where all the patent holders bring in their patents for this use. Companies like Adobe pay royalties for their tools and in the exchange, customers of Adobe are free to use that format. Companies like Google pay also to keep their users free of claims for playing h264 videos. So yes, h264 is laden with patents, but most probably, someone is paying for you to use it.

     

    When you licence an asset from Adobe stock, you pay the creator of that asset via Adobe stock for their creation, not for attached patent rights. Patent rights need to be paid from other sources, but are most likely paid for long before any sales come in. Surely, any tool that creates h264 videos needs a licence to do that. And they will have one, even the free tools. Or they would get a take-down notice from the patent holder.

    ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
      N
      Nature1213Author
      Known Participant
      February 19, 2023

      So I could upload a video in H.264 format without problem because Adobe pays the royalties for using that format to the developer company?

        Nancy OShea
        Community Expert
        Nancy OSheaCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 18, 2023

        There is no free pass with privacy, copyright and property.

         

        Read Adobe Stock Contributor's User Guide

        Legal Terminology & Copyright

        https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/terminology-and-importance-of-copyright.html

         

        Property Release and Protection

        https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/property-release.html

         

        Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
        Nancy OShea
        Community Expert
        Nancy OSheaCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 18, 2023

        File type is irrelevant. What matters is the content inside. 

         

        All content could be protected by 1 or more of the following:

        • Copyright.
        • Registered trademark.
        • Design or Utility Patents.
        • Privacy.

         

        You cannot take pictures of people on the street and use their likeness for commercial purposes without their written permission (Model Releases).

         

        You cannot take pictures of commercial airplanes and sell them without permission from the airline who owns it and the builder of the aircraft -- i.e. Airbus, Boeing, LearJet, etc... (Property Release).

         

        Similarly, you can't take pictures of brand name goods, landmarks, cars, boats, hotels, toys, artwork, other phtographs, livestock, etc.. and use them commercially unless you obtain signed releases from the actual owners.

         

        This protects you from lawsuits / jail and ensures that whoever buys your image is also protected from lawsuits.

         

        Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
        N
        Nature1213Author
        Known Participant
        February 18, 2023
        • So, for example, if I upload a video in MP4 format, nothing would happen? MP4, H.264, MOV and AVI are proprietary formats, if I used these formats to upload videos in Adobe, nothing would happen?
        Nancy OShea
        Community Expert
        Nancy OSheaCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 18, 2023

        I don't know what you mean by "nothing would happen."

         

        Do you own the rights to the video content or not? 

        If you don't own it, don't submit it.

         

        Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
        T
        Test Screen Name
        Legend
        February 18, 2023

        Are you thinking that all images are free because they are stored in JPEG? So you can submit any image, taken by any photographer? If that is your question, the answer is NO.

        If that is not your question, please give more detail about the copyright issue which is your concern.

        N
        Nature1213Author
        Known Participant
        February 18, 2023

        What I mean is whether the JPG format is free of rights, copyright, etc. or not, because I have read that the JPG format is free. And I don't mean uploading other people's images to the image bank, but uploading my own photos in JPG format, and apart from that I want to know about a video format accepted by Adobe that is free

        Jill_C
        Community Expert
        Jill_CCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 19, 2023

        When you sign the Adobe Stock Contributor Agreement you are agreeing that you own the copyright and clear title to all the assets you upload to the database. You are not giving up your copyright when you submit the asset to Adobe; you are just allowing Adobe to license it to others in payment of a royalty to Adobe who pays you a share of that. As @Nancy OShea indicated, copyright is irrelevant of the type of asset or the file type. 

        Jill C., Forum Volunteer
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