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Adobe’s highly buzzed launch of Photoshop Express has been well-received, for the most part. However, some users have been appalled by a discovered clause in Adobe’s full terms of service for Photoshop Express, which reads:

“8. Use of Your Content. Adobe does not claim ownership of Your Content. However, with respect to Your Content that you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Services, you grant Adobe a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, derive revenue or other remuneration from, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such
Content into other Materials or works in any format or medium now known or later developed.”

The paragraph practically grants Adobe full rights to do whatever they wish with your photos (including monetary gain), which I admit, is quite ridiculous. The eyebrow raising discovery has caused some hesitation on new user signups and some current users have ceased their use of Adobe’s web application. Why would anyone want to use a service that takes all rights of ownership of your photos when there are alternatives, like Picnik, that ask for no rights whatsoever? In fact, some sites that reviewed Photoshop Express with positivity have since retracted their recommendation. However,  in all fairness to Adobe, the clause in question appears to be a “lawyer slip up” that was unintended. The “mistake” was confirmed when John Nack, Adobe’s Senior Product Manager for Photoshop, posted a response from the Photoshop Express team regarding the backlash, saying:

“We’ve heard your concerns about the terms of service for Photoshop Express beta.  We reviewed the terms in context of your comments - and we agree that it currently implies things we would never do with the content.  Therefore, our legal team is making it a priority to post revised terms that are more appropriate for Photoshop Express users.  We will alert you once we have posted new terms.  Thank you for your feedback on Photoshop Express beta and we appreciate your input.”

It appears the clause was indeed a mix up that meant no ill-intentions. I’m sure the Adobe lawyers were trying to cover every loophole imaginable, but unfortunately, the language used did not sit well with the entire world. To be on the safe side, if you’ve yet to sign up for the service, you may want to use another online photo editing alternative or wait for the Photoshop Express terms to be revised. In the meantime, everyone else can call off the dogs.

Read [CNET News]