Whether artists can use default materials from Photoshop to create new brushes for commercial use

Question

Hello, I’ ve got some questions about Photoshop’s brushes. Recently there were some arguments in Chinese social media about whether artists could use the default materials from Photoshop (such as sample brushes, brush tips, textures, etc.) to adjust them into new brushes for commercial use (for selling the brushes as their own brushes bundle in this case). There are artists who used sample brushes to create new brushes (not entirely different from the original) and sell them as their own. There are also artists who used Kyle' s free brushes and made subtle changes and sold the brushes as their own. I'm wondering if there is any detail policy about this.

Conrad_C · Accepted Answer

This is ultimately a legal question and may also be subject to the laws in your region around copyright, trademarks, etc. If the discussions were on Chinese social media, then the answer might be affected by Chinese law. It can also be affected by the Adobe Terms of Use, which says things like:

Section 1.1 Choice of Law and Contracting Entity

The country and law(s) that this agreement falls under depends on where you live.

Section 3.6 Content Files

…You may modify the Content Files prior to embedding them in the End Use. You may reproduce and distribute Content Files only in connection with your End Use, however, under no circumstances can you distribute the Content Files on a stand-alone basis, outside of the End Use.

Section 6. User Conduct

You must use the Services and Software responsibly and not misuse the Services and Software. For example, you must not:

…6.2 copy, modify, host, stream, sublicense, or resell the Services and Software;

That last section seems to indicate that selling modified presets that originally came with the software is not allowed. But I am not a lawyer, so you would have to consult with one in your region to accurately interpret how this affects presets such as brushes.

melissapiccone · Answer

I would think this would fall under copyright like artwork - you can't outright claim something is your own and sell it. If they are using the brush and making slight alterations, that would be a copyright issue. There are so many brushes out there for free and it's really easy to make them, I don't understand why anyone would bother reselling existing brushes. I did a search but didn't find anything deifnitive except that you can't resell the brushes.

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