LIFE photo archive hosted by Google

[[Admin] osborn4]

LIFE photo archive hosted by Google

Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

From an AP Story:

The photos can be printed out for free as long as they aren't being used as part of an attempt to make money.

But I can't find any terms of use on the site.

[Riggs]

The first time I read that the picures are free for private use, I thought that could very cool for church stuff. But also I thought there must be a catch. So I startet to look afer the permissions but I found nothing on the goole page. The only thing I found was this article:

Postscript From Danny Sullivan: As Greg says, the images are free to use for personal or research purposes. We know this, because that’s what Google has told us directly. It’s also in the press release about the launch:

LIFE’s Photo Archive will be scanned and available on Google Image Search free for personal and research purposes. Copyright and ownership of all images will remain with Time Inc.

Unfortunately, an ordinary person using the photo archive probably won’t realize that images can be used for personal or research purposes.

Looking at any individual photo certainly doesn’t make this clear. They carry a Time copyright notification (© Time Inc.) that suggests they CANNOT be used for any purpose without explicit permission.

The FAQ page doesn’t say personal use is OK. It actually says something more restrictive:

What can I do with the images I find from the LIFE photo archive? You can browse and view the images you find, rate them, and see detailed information about the photographs. There is also a link to buy image merchandise provided by LIFE.

Meanwhile, each photo has a “Purchase image merchandise” link that somewhat implies restrictions.

[[Admin] osborn4]

Interesting. That article says

The images will be free to use for “personal and research purposes” but will be digitally watermarked to prevent unauthorized or unlicensed commercial uses. There are links to appropriate contacts for those who want to use the images commercially.

But then the postscript says

Hopefully, Google and Time will get things fixed. Each image should clearly link to permissions information. And Time’s missing out by not selling options to buy images for reuse for commerical purposes. Anyone interested in this and hitting that “Purchase image” option only gets a choice of buying a framed photo. No contact info about how to use the photo in other ways, even if you’re willing to pay.

Unfortunately, the postscript is correct and the paragraph in the article seems to be mistaken.