Dear fellow authors,
I received an email today regarding Envato’s updated Terms and Privacy Policy, which impact us as authors.
What are the key changes for authors in short?
What are your thoughts on these updates? Do you see any concerns or benefits? Let’s discuss how these changes might affect us as authors.
Looking forward to your suggestions and opinions!
For anyone who may not have received the email about the “Envato Market Author Terms,” here is the reference URL:
I didn’t bother to read, whatever the changes are we are gonna accept it anyway…
We need a clear understanding of the recent updates, specifically regarding their impact on marketplace authors. The changes seem to focus on:
However, after reviewing the updated terms, it is still unclear what specific changes apply to marketplace authors.
Could someone summarize the key takeaways in a concise manner?
Yeah, agree. I barely glanced it over too. We’ll be accepting whatever they put in the table so why bother. Among the countless disturbing stuff I found, I’ll put this here:
29. Our rights to use and sublicense use of your Item: We may:
a. use the whole or part of your Items;
i. to promote Envato or any Group Company, for example, in public relations, emails, on a features page, or on other sites and platforms (including on social media channels); and
ii. to develop and use, and allow the Group Companies to develop and use, either independently or in collaboration with other parties, new services, features and products (which may include granting sub-licenses to prospective licensees for the purpose of developing new services, features and products), to use those products, features and services in perpetuity, and for any reasonable business purpose of the Group Companies, including to train artificial intelligence models and algorithms; and
b. sublicense to licensees or prospective licensees of Envato and the Group Companies the right to use the whole or part of your Items in accordance with the license terms you select for such Item.
And this:
32. Indemnity : You agree to indemnify and hold harmless each Group Company from and against any and all losses, costs (including legal costs), expenses, demands, settlement damages or liability that a Group Company incurs arising out of, or in connection with, a third party claim against a Group Company alleging that any Items you provide, license or otherwise made available on Envato Market infringes, misappropriates or otherwise violates any third party’s rights, including intellectual property rights and rights of publicity.
33. Buyers’ use of your Item : We are not liable for any loss suffered by you as a result of a Buyer, a Client or any other person making use of your Item contrary to these Author Terms, the Envato Market User Terms or the Item’s license. IN THE EVENT OF AN ISSUE OR DISPUTE REGARDING AN ITEM IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO DIRECTLY CONTACT OR RESPOND TO THE BUYER AND TRY TO AMICABLY RESOLVE THE ISSUE OR DISPUTE.
Anyway, a lot of twisted and scary stuff… just the usual. Besides, once again it’s one of the “either you accept or you can delete your portfolio” messages we’re used to, right?
Exactly my point.
Could you please clarify the main objectives and key points of this update in simpler terms? I’m having difficulty understanding it with my current knowledge. Additionally, does anyone have insights on the reason behind this update?
SS migration / AI integration. They asked before if you’re interested in or not, now they are not offering any other choice but to leave.
Also this:
32. Indemnity : You agree to indemnify and hold harmless each Group Company from and against any and all losses, costs (including legal costs), expenses, demands, settlement damages or liability that a Group Company incurs arising out of, or in connection with, a third party
Most of the stuff is in that tone.
Didn’t they make an agreement on their own?
Is there any info that we will be compensated for AI training?
The updated terms mostly relate to training generative models. Except that you won’t know which companies were trained with your products, you won’t get compensated, and trained models will never be deleted. Companies can use trained models even if you delete your portfolio.
It would be correct purchase a license every time end product generated by AI but I’m pretty sure that AI companies won’t want to share their revenue with anyone else, so they won’t buy licenses.
“*to use those products, features and services in perpetuity” - seems like an
archive can be made with your items for future use by AI companies. Just in case if you decided delete your items.
Yes, there is info that we won’t be compensated. This part is pretty worrying too:
Indemnity : You agree to indemnify and hold harmless each Group Company from and against any and all losses, costs (including legal costs), expenses, demands, settlement damages or liability that a Group Company incurs arising out of, or in connection with, a third party
But anyway, is filled of that sort of new clausules. A fun read.
Oh, yes, that. I forgot to mention that ‘in perpetuity’ is everywhere. So from the day these terms take effect, they have our green light for life. Again, just the usual.
@BenLeong @KingDog - could you please clarify this changes and especially will we be compensated for AI training. It’s not clear from this text.
Beware that in the original e-mail it is stated that those who have opted out of AI training and sub-licensing are still opted out. From the original email:
What exactly changed?
Why is this not written in the terms? That’s a pretty important point!!
With all the fuss that happened in order to obtain that opting-out option, you’d think they’d be careful about it… What’s going on here? Are we safe to leave our assets on this platform?
They said they can’t tell us about compensation because no deals have been made yet. So they don’t know and thus can’t tell us. It was not clear why they couldn’t even tell us about what the share would be between authors and Envato, but I’m sure they had pure reasons for that.
Hi all. Thanks for your thoughts and for the points raised here related to the updated terms - we understand that any changes can bring up questions, and we appreciate seeing these raised here.
Given the scope of the updates, we’re unable to provide a full summary here so we encourage you to read through the terms themselves:
Key points were outlined in the email, but I’ll copy those summaries here for ease of reference:
As we are now part of Shutterstock: While our product remains the same, our terms now reflect changes made as part of this transition to Shutterstock.
Clarity and consistency: We’ve refreshed and streamlined our terms to improve readability and make them more consistent across all policies.
Content permissions: Your content license provides rights to Envato and its group companies, opening up new opportunities for your items.
Transparency and content moderation: The updates also address requirements under the EU Digital Services Act.
Standard terms: We’ve included some standard legal provisions, covering aspects like changes to terms, dispute resolution, governing law, and our group structure.
Privacy updates: We’ve clarified how we collect and use data.
To address a point mentioned in this thread:
Can the Group Companies sublicense my content and will I be paid?
If Envato or a Group Company receives payment for a permitted use of your items, you will be compensated—whether the arrangement is made with a third party or within the group. Your share of revenue will vary based on the specifics of the arrangement.
We know these changes impact our author community and we appreciate you taking the time to engage. While we won’t be continuing a back-and-forth Q&A through the forums, we encourage you to review the updated terms. Please direct any questions about the terms update to our Support team via terms@help.envato.com.
Content permissions: Your content license provides rights to Envato and its group companies, opening up new opportunities for your items. Does this mean that your team can upload marketplace items to Elements without Author permission?