Protecting our Copyright from being Misappropriated.

[Ann_Shelbourne1]

Before anyone posts ANY image in the New Forums, it is essential that they re-read Adobe's TOS and particularly the wording (and implications) of Clause 8.

Adobe has given themselves the power to purloin any "Content" posted or displayed on their web sites (meaning our original art and photographs) for ANY purpose, anywhere, and in perpetuity

Adobe's Legal Department need to address this matter with some urgency because the risk of loss of Artists' Rights is already damaging participation in some Forums severely:

The Photography Forum is one example as shown in these threads:

http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b85627/

Wade Zimmerman, "So is the photography forum dead or grasping for its last breath?" #, 19 Mar 2009 1...

[Mark_A__Boyd]

>Anything you say or do on the internet, once published on the internet, is in the public Domain period.

Wow. I can't believe I just read that in a genuine post in an Adobe forum.

Such posts normally make me think "TROLL ALERT", but it seems you honestly believe it and that you are not trying to bait anybody.

Wow.

[Mark_A__Boyd]

> We do not post images directly into the current Forums we are only posting html Links to third-party or private servers;

It is clear to me that posting links to other servers is included in the definition of "Your Content" with the phrase, "...otherwise make available through your use of the Site...".

If links are not intended to be part of the definition, then that phrase should be clarified or removed.

i And, no, though Ann missed my earliest post on the subject, it was Ann who brought it to my attention.

[Ann_Shelbourne1]

There is a LOT that needs to be "clarified or removed".

Clause 8, as it is currently phrased is an outrageous attempt to purloin the property of others to which Adobe have neither legal nor moral rights.

[Ann_Shelbourne1]

Clause 8 has still not been updated.

Do Adobe care that they are killing their own Forums by this behaviour?

Hopper, "Be VERY Afraid " #55, 30 Mar 2009 9:09 am

Or is Adobe just more interested in harvesting "Content" (that is the intellectual property of others) in order to resell it as "Stock Images"?

[Guest]

little bump

[D__McCahill]

> Or is Adobe just more interested in harvesting "Content" (that is the intellectual property of others) in order to resell it as "Stock Images"?

Where on earth do you get that idea from? If I am not mistaken, the first sentence in Clause 8 admits that the ownership of the copyright will remain with the creator. Adobe is just covering themselves against copyright claims for carriage of items posted.

I can see no place where there is any indication that Adobe will start selling those images as stock photography. If you have, please enlighten us.

> Clause 8 has still not been updated

How fast does your lawyer work? I think it wasn't much more than a week ago that John or someone else said they had reported the concern to the powers that be. Expect a change in months, not days, from a corporate legal department.

Finally, this campaign you have been on may very well result in Adobe deciding not to allow images on the forum at all. This could result in the photography forum becoming strictly a technical help forum rather than the artistic place I understand it is.

This might be an acceptable conclusion to you, but it will impair other forums if we can't use images to post screen shots, etc., to help others out.

[Ann_Shelbourne1]

>If I am not mistaken, the first sentence in Clause 8 admits that the ownership of the copyright will remain with the creator.

Of course it does; because Copyright cannot be transferred except by written and signed contract between the two parties.

But what Adobe are doing in Clause 8 side-steps the Copyright issue but gives Adobe Full USAGE Rights in any medium, in any place, in any manner, globally and in perpetuity without further licence; and without payment to the owner of the image.

THAT is what is unacceptable.

Clause 8 needs to be redrafted completely so that it only grants Adobe a licence to display User's "Content" in the context in which it was posted in the Forums; and to store that "Content" on Adobe's Servers solely for the purpose of servicing the Forums on the Internet.

Other web site Forums that display User Content are able to craft Terms of Usage which handle the matter both correctly and honourably.

Adobe needs to do the same.

[Ramón_G_Castañeda]

>what Adobe are doing in Clause 8 side-steps the Copyright issue but gives Adobe Full USAGE Rights in any medium, in any place, in any manner, globally and in perpetuity without further licence; and without payment to the owner of the image.

That is a very good and valid point, Ann.

In that light, the wording seems to be deliberate and well calculated. That's not kosher. :/

[Ann_Shelbourne1]

And the tardiness of Adobe's Legal Department in addressing this matter is already debilitating the Photography Forum.

Allen Wicks, "Another Macro/Close Up Thread" #376, 1 Apr 2009 8:51 am