Free Watermark Remover, is a tool offered by Pixelbin, has sparked conversations about copyright protections as it almost can completely remove watermarks from images with a single click. Similar tools already exist, but Watermark Remover is completely free, available on the web and as an Android app, and does the job with a single click. This is particularly interesting in the context of AI’s disruptive effect on the creative industries, including stock image companies that rely on watermarks to protect their content.
Free Watermark Remover in istock image
Stock image giant Shutterstock recently introduced its own text-to-image generator based on OpenAI’s DALL-E 2, and Adobe Stock has also welcomed the technology by accepting AI-generated content for sale on its platform. This is despite criticism from creatives that their content is often scraped from the web without compensation or consent to train these same systems.
Platforms like Shutterstock and Adobe Stock apply large watermarks to their content to prevent the images from being used without permission. These companies may be content with AI while it generates cash for them, but they likely won’t be so keen on it being used to steal their assets. And Watermark Remover enabled us to (theoretically) do that very, very easily.
In our tests, the style of watermark applied by Shutterstock and Adobe Stock was easily removed by Watermark Remover in a matter of seconds, with little to no artifacts remaining. It also succeeded in completely removing the large, singular watermarks that Shutterstock uses on its preview images, though it was unable to remove those in a similar style used by Getty.
Free Watermark Remover in Shutterstock image
Free Watermark Remover in Adobe Stoke image
In fact, the watermark used by Getty proved to be the most resistant to automated removal tools out of the three stock image platforms tested. Getty Images has notably taken a different stance on AI compared to Shutterstock and Adobe, banning all AI-generated content from its platform amid concerns over copyright claims and saying it will sue Stability AI for “unlawfully” scraping millions of images from its site to train Stable Diffusion.
Free Watermark Remover in Getty image
There are, of course, limitations to Watermark Remover. Alongside struggling to eliminate singular, blockier watermarks, it didn’t have any success removing the artist signatures that sometimes appear on generative images.
There’s also the question of legality. While removing a watermark without the original owner’s consent is illegal in the US, the tools that allow users to circumvent copyright protections like Watermark Remover aren’t necessarily illegal themselves. As the current legal landscape surrounding AI and copyright laws is incredibly convoluted, there have been calls to implement clearer regulation.
The creators of Watermark Remover address its legality in an FAQ, saying:
Users of this app are solely responsible for any claims, damages, cost, expenses, suits, etc. brought by any third party pertaining to the usage of the resulting images with the watermarks removed. You need to get the original image owner’s consent or approval before you use the watermark removed images for any commercial use.
All in all, Watermark Remover is a powerful tool that uses AI to remove watermarks from copyrighted images in seconds. Its accessibility and ease of use has sparked conversations surrounding copyright protections, particularly in the context of the creative industries and stock image companies that rely on watermarks to protect their content. It is important to note that while the tool itself may not be illegal, removing a watermark without the original owner’s consent is illegal in the US. As the legal landscape surrounding AI and copyright laws is complex, there have been calls for clearer regulation. While Watermark Remover can potentially harm stock image companies, it also highlights the potential for AI to benefit various parts of the industry.
It is up to the users to ensure they are using the tool within legal boundaries and obtaining the necessary consent from the original image owners.
