Wetransfer wanted to grab rights to all files

Contents

WeTransfer has to back down. A change to the file transfer service's terms of use caused an uproar, ridicule, and legal advice to stop using Wetransfer from now on. This had an effect.

With the clause that has now been withdrawn, Wetransfer claimed extensive rights to the content contained in file transfers. These went far beyond what is necessary for the operation of the service. An unlimited, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable license to all intellectual property rights, including the development and marketing of new technologies and services. This would have allowed WeTransfer to resell, publish, broadcast, or otherwise publicly perform the content (in its original form or modified), among other things.

The licensing user's share of the proceeds was expressly excluded. Incidentally, this licensor did not have to be the true rights holder: anyone who transferred a file via WeTransfer would have granted this license and then been liable to the true rights holders. This could lead to ruin.

AI training

Wetransfer attracted particular attention by reserving the right to use the files for machine learning training. Intellectual property rights for AI training are currently a particularly hotly contested issue. The new clauses had already been in effect for new users since the beginning of the month and were to take effect for existing customers on August 8.

But now the company is removing the clause, which applies to the operation of the service as well as its improvement, a term that is common in terms of use but can be interpreted in many ways. There is no longer any mention of AI training in the terms of use. Although the development of an AI filter to suppress “illegal and harmful” content had been considered, the filter had not yet been implemented, Wetransfer writes.

“We do not use machine learning or any form of AI to process content shared via Wetransfer,” the Wetransfer team promises. Content will also not be sold to third parties.

The change “may have caused some concern” and is being withdrawn with an “apology for any confusion caused.” The new clause is not only shorter than the interim one but also shorter than its predecessor.

The completely new clause

6.3. License to WeTransfer. To allow us to operate, provide you with, and improve the service and our technologies, we must obtain from you certain rights related to content that is covered by intellectual property rights. You hereby grant us a royalty-free license to use your content for the purposes of operating, developing, and improving the service, all in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy.

The interim clause

6.3. License to WeTransfer. To allow us to operate, provide you with, and improve the service and our technologies (and to develop new ones), we must obtain from you certain rights related to content that is covered by intellectual property rights. You hereby grant us a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable license to use your content for the purposes of operating, developing, commercializing, and improving the service or new technologies or services, including to improve the performance of machine learning models that enhance our content moderation process, in accordance with the Privacy & Cookie Policy. Such license includes the right to reproduce, distribute, modify, prepare derivative works based upon, broadcast, communicate to the public, publicly display, and perform content. You will not be entitled to compensation for any use of content by us under these Terms. The processing of personal data is always carried out in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy, which provides further details on the purposes and legal bases for such processing.

The comparable provision in the previous Terms of Use

10.5 WeTransfer requires a license from you with regards to the content to enable us to provide the services to you. You hereby grant: (1) us an unlimited, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to (i) use, host, store, scan, search, sort, index, create previews, and (ii) reproduce, communicate, publish, publicly display, distribute, edit, and prepare derivative works from (including but not limited to scaling, cropping, adapting, and translating) the content in connection with our operating, enabling, providing, making available, commercializing, and improving the Services; and (2) other users the right to access and use your content in accordance with their use of the service. The foregoing license may be sublicensed by us to our service providers, partners, contractors, and other people and entities providing services for us. Notwithstanding any term of this provision, this license will survive any termination of these Terms and any deletion of your account or your content regarding content archived in storage media (but otherwise rendered inaccessible to the public).

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