Google removes ‘view image’ button to support copyright owners

Google has announced it has removed its ‘view image’ button from the Google Images feature, in a move designed to support copyright owners.

The development comes after Google announced that it has entered into a new licensing partnership with Getty Images.

While the ‘view image’ button has been removed, the ‘visit’ button remains. This directs users to the original web pages the images are on.

In addition, the ‘search by image’ button has been removed.

“Ultimately, Google Images is a way for people to discover information in cases where browsing images is a better experience than text,” said the search engine provider on Twitter.

“Having a single button that takes people to actionable information about the image is good for users, web publishers and copyright holders.”

The partnership between Google and Getty was announced on February 9. As part of the joint venture, Google will be able to use Getty’s content within its various products and services.

At the time the partnership was announced, Dawn Airey, CEO of Getty, commented that the agreement will pave the way for a productive and collaborative relationship between the companies.

“We will license our market-leading content to Google, working closely with them to improve attribution of our contributors’ work, thereby growing the ecosystem.”

Cathy Edwards, engineering director at Google, added: “We’re excited to have signed this licence agreement with Getty Images, and we’ll be using their images across many of our products and services, starting immediately.”

The two companies have come a long way over the past two years in building a relationship.

In 2016, TBO reported that Getty had filed a complaint at the European Commission against Google, accusing it of copyright infringement by displaying search results in its Google Images service that actually belong to Getty.