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Photoshop Express Terms of Use Cause Stir, Will Be Revised

Posted by Soulskill on from the read-the-fine-print dept.

Earlier this week, we discussed Adobe's beta launch of Photoshop Express, a free, online version of the popular image editing software. However, as a number of readers pointed out, the terms of use included language which granted Adobe a wide range of rights to any photos that were made available on the site. Now, after receiving a great deal of feedback from potential users, Adobe has stated their intent to rewrite the terms of use, as Ars Technica reports. David Morgenstern of ZDNet also notes the impending change, and briefly discusses the privacy and ownership concerns involved with content you post online.

2 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. Adobe's other EULAs don't make sense either by proxima · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Anyone who chooses to upload anything to a public forum/gallery should be aware that some of these websites will claim the right to do whatever they want with that material. Back in 2003, I even stayed at a hotel where the internet access had such a clause; they claimed the right to reproduce whatever you uploaded through the system. How enforceable are such terms? I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think we've seen a sufficient number of court cases come out of license agreements like these.

    Adobe's not exactly known for their reasonable EULAs. Just take a look at the EULA for Adobe Reader. This is software that Adobe is trying to get on all the computers it can. The license, however, permits only the installation on one primary computer and one mobile computer (note that "Permitted Number" is 1). I've gone so far as to contact Adobe customer service and ask them what's going on - this goes completely against their marketing policy. Amusingly, they send all their customer service responses via PDF over email. Their official response?

    With regard to installing the software on more than two computers and
    its use at the same time. I need to inform you that although Adobe
    Reader is a free software, Adobe maintains its distribution rights.
    Thus, as per Adobe policy there is no provision to use the software on
    more than two computers simultaneously.

    We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

    Please note that, single-user Adobe branded product that is installed on
    a computer at home, you can also install and use the software on one
    secondary computer of the same platform at office or on a portable
    computer. However, you may not run the software simultaneously on both
    the primary and secondary computers.

    It's clear that Adobe has no intention to actually try to enforce this restriction, but it suggests that organizations with computer labs and such are supposed to negotiate a volume license with Adobe. I think the Reader license is simply boilerplate recycled from other Adobe software, but it's clear that whoever is responsible for Adobe's licenses isn't in touch with what Adobe actually wants to have regarding its licensing (at least from a marketing perspective).

    --
    "The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
  2. Photoshop.. slightly off topic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm just curious as to why they call it Photoshop Express, it doesn't really have anything in common with Photoshop at all. It's more like Adobe's mixing iPhoto + ImageShack.