𝗠𝗜𝗗𝗝𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗬 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗦𝗨𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨...𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 “𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮” 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚

candyandgrim
Oct 30
2 min read

Updated: Nov 1

Last night at 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗯𝗲 𝗠𝗔𝗫, one phrase kept repeating: “𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲” with other 3rd party integrations missing this label.

My thought was "𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘛𝘰𝘱𝘢𝘻 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?" but it is not listed as commercially safe in Photoshop (No indemnity, I guess)

This sparked a deep dive. Most AI platforms 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗼𝘄𝗻. They know it. We know it. Our clients know. And yet they demand AI anyway.

So I compared 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝘄𝘀 — theft, copyright, and AI risk.

𝟭. 𝗣𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗳𝘁: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗩𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻?

In 𝗨𝗞 𝗹𝗮𝘄, the 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿 (fence) faces double the thief’s penalty, because they fuel the crime.

• 𝗨𝗞: Thief → up to 7 yrs/Buyer → up to 𝟭𝟰 𝘆𝗿𝘀

• 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲: Thief → 7 yrs/Buyer → 𝟭𝟬 𝘆𝗿𝘀

• 𝗜𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱: Thief → 10 yrs/Buyer → 𝟭𝟰 𝘆𝗿𝘀

Everywhere else? Equal to, or theft is punished more.

𝟮. 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 > 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻 > 𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿

𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 = prison.

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 (agencies, designers, brands who knowingly use stolen IP in ads, products, or client work) = 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻 — 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗮𝗱.

• 𝗨𝗞: 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 → 10 yrs/𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻 → 𝟳 𝘆𝗿𝘀

• 𝗨𝗦𝗔: 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 → 5–20 yrs/𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻 → 𝟱 𝘆𝗿𝘀

• 𝗝𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗻: 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 → 10 yrs/𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻 → 𝟭𝟬 𝘆𝗿𝘀

• 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆: 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 → 5 yrs/𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻 → 𝟱 𝘆𝗿𝘀

3rd party end user:

• Personal use? = Fines only

• Commercial use? = Criminal

𝟯. 𝗔𝗜 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆: 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸?

Only 𝟰 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 (out of 600+ creative AI startups) offer 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 and pay if you get sued:

✅ 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗯𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝘆 Full IP indemnity (enterprise only)

✅ 𝗦𝗵𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗔𝗜 Human-reviewed, full protection

✅ 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘆 𝗜𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗜 $50k+ per image