At 06:39 PM 9/30/2002 +0800, you wrote: >But wait, there's more! ..From their terms and conditions (in the little >scroll box that >no one scrolls through) I quote: "To enable your images or photographs to >be uploaded and >made available on the Service you grant to us and to any store which uses >the Service and >which you have requested upload your images or photographs to the Service, >a non-exclusive >transferable worldwide royalty-free copyright licence to reproduce, adapt >or alter your >images or photographs. > >You acknowledge that we have no control over the use of your images or >photographs and >shall not be held liable for any use, publication or copying of your >images and >photographs. You waive all rights of action or other claims you may have >against us in >respect of any such use, publication or copying." Karl, take a deep breath and step into their shoes for a second. What is the minimum rights they would need to be able to display your images to any visitor in the world and protect Fuji's interests if someone copies an image from their site without your permission? Lets look at it piece by piece. The web is "World-wide". Fuji makes this service free and they don't charge subscribers so it has to be "Royalty-free". Fuji may get acquired some day, or they may sell the web site to someone else, so it has to be "Transferable". When someone views your pictures on their site, they are reproducing your work and if it goes through AOL there is a good chance it will be "adapted or altered" in the process. Your protection here is the fact that the license is "non-exclusive". You still own the copyright to it. The second paragraph reemphasizes that pictures on the web are easily stolen and that Fuji does not want to be held liable in the case one of your pictures is stolen. There is a simple concept in civil law, sue big rich companies, never sue a poor person. So if I were to copy your image from Fuji and use it and you found out about it, you could sue me for the $12 in my bank account or you could sue Fuji for millions. Which are you likely to do? So they are stating up front to make sure you understand --- they are not responsible for protecting your images. Sadly, the first part of the language would in theory permit them to take some of the better published photos and use them for their own advertising purposes or for stock usage. But the main reason that language is there is to be able to legally offer the service. If you want to use their service and you want your images protected there are several things you can do. First, watermark your images. Put a big ole Copyright (C) Karl Shah-Jenner on the photo. Second, don't upload anything bigger than say 350x500. There isn't enough data to get a good print from, so its less likely they would use your image. If I were running an image hosting site, I would have to put in the same language. Rob -- Rob Miracle Photographic Miracles 203 Carpenter Brook Dr. Cary, NC 27519 http://www.photo-miracles.com
