🚀 go-pugleaf

I just find the notion bizarre that Adobe would be so hard up for images to use for their own purposes that they'd need to raid the relatively low res stuff posted here, and probably upset the photographic community in doing so to a degree that would run totally counter to their objective of selling as much software as they can to said community. The whole notion doesn't make sense to me. Perhaps I'm just too innocent.

The terms of use start with this -

Last updated October 15, 2008. Replaces April 30, 2006 version in its entirety.

The relevant (as I see it) bits of the 30th Aoril 2006 terms are as follows:-

"SUBMITTED MATERIALS

All of your User Materials that you post on or otherwise submit via the Site and Services shall not be confidential information or trade secrets owned by you or any other party. You will receive no compensation for any use of your User Materials. Adobe may, but is not required to, post or use any of your User Materials that you may post or otherwise submit. Adobe does not pre-screen User Materials that users provide or otherwise submit via the Site or Services; however, Adobe may remove any posted or submitted User Materials from the Site or any Service for any reason without notice in its sole discretion. By posting or submitting your User Materials, you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the Intellectual Property Rights and other rights to your User Materials as described in these Terms of Use, including all the rights necessary for you to post or submit your User Materials.

In addition, by posting or otherwise submitting your User Materials that contain images, photographs, pictures, videos, webcasts or that are otherwise graphical in whole or in part ("Images"), you represent and warrant that: (a) you own the copyright in such Images, or that you have obtained all necessary license(s) from the copyright owner(s) of such Images to use such Images, or portions thereof, in keeping with your use in connection with the Site, the Services and as otherwise permitted by these Terms of Use; (b) you have the rights necessary to grant the licenses and sublicenses described in these Terms of Use; and (c) you have received consent from any and all persons depicted in such Images to use the Images as set forth in these Terms of Use, including the distribution, public display, public performance and reproduction of such Images. By posting or otherwise submitting Images, you grant to Adobe and all other users of this Site permission to use your Images in connection with their use permitted by these Terms of Use (including making prints and gift items incorporating such Images), including an unrestricted, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free and fully paid up license under all Intellectual Property Rights to copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, modify, translate, transmit and reformat your Images, with or without having your name attached to such Images, in any manner or form and for any purpose, with full rights to sublicense such rights through multiple tiers of distribution. You will receive no compensation with respect to the use of your Images.

You are solely and entirely responsible for all of your User Materials that you post or otherwise submit via the Site or Services. You shall assume all risks associated with the use of your User Materials including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of your User Materials. Adobe does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of your User Materials. You acknowledge and agree that by accessing or using the Site or Services, you may be exposed to User Materials from others that are offensive, indecent or otherwise objectionable.

ADOBE�S RIGHTS TO SUBMITTED USER MATERIALS

For all of your User Materials that you post or otherwise submit to the Site, including (a) comments to Communications Venues, (b) feedback, (c) bug reports, (d) piracy reports or (e) product suggestions, you grant Adobe and the users of this Site an unrestricted, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free and fully paid up license under all Intellectual Property Rights to use, reproduce, publicly display, publicly perform, copy, edit, modify, translate, reformat, transmit and distribute such User Materials, with or without having your name attached to such Images, in any manner or form and for any purpose, with full rights to sublicense such rights through multiple tiers of distribution, and you also acknowledge and agree that Adobe is free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques that you provide for any purpose without any compensation to you. You acknowledge and agree that Adobe shall not be liable for any failure to store User Materials on the Site at any time."

Bold above is mine.

 <http://web.archive.org/web/20070122165412/http>://www.adobe.com/misc/copyright.html has the whole thing.

Now why is this suddenly an issue, when we've all agreed to it (by using the site) for the last several years - or when posting your copyright material on internet sites, and you are professional photographers with a concern over these matters, surely you've not been just posting stuff on the net in the hope that the small print is ok?