Images and copyright
Timelines show images by linking to them: a moment's icon, a duration's background or a stack entry's picture is an HTTPS address where its owner hosts it (#109). The server stores the link, never a copy of the image, and readers' browsers load the image from its host.
Why links, not copies
Whether showing an image linked from elsewhere infringes its copyright depends on where you are. Storing a copy is clearer: it reproduces the image, and the server would then distribute it. As of October 2026, the main cases are:
| Where | What the courts say |
|---|---|
| US, Ninth Circuit | The "server test" (Perfect 10 v. Amazon, 2007; Hunley v. Instagram, 2023): a site that shows an image stored on someone else's server does not itself display or distribute a copy. That is how Google Images shows full-size images: by linking, while the small thumbnails it does copy were held fair use. |
| US, Fifth Circuit | In 2026 (Emmerich) the court rejected the server test: embedding can infringe the display right there. Other courts are divided. |
| EU | Linking to, or inline-linking, a work freely available with its owner's consent is not a new communication to the public (Svensson, BestWater). It is when it gets around technical measures against framing (VG Bild-Kunst, 2021), or when the linker knows the work was posted unlawfully (GS Media). |
So links are the safer footing, though not a guarantee. A copy on the server carries the risk everywhere. Earlier releases stored copies (assets) when a timeline was saved to the server. The migration to this release removes them, from timelines, their saved history and pull requests.
What the service does
| Saving to the server | Keeps only the links. A save that includes image copies (from an older editor, the API, or an imported file) has them dropped. |
| Credit | Wherever an image shows (the hover card, an event's details), its host is named, and open the original links to it. |
| Exports | Export (.ochx), Export .och, the offline HTML and desktop files still embed copies of the images, so they work offline. They are your own files: what you may do with the copies is between you and the images' owners. |
| Link rot | An image whose host removes it, or stops allowing it to be shown elsewhere, stops showing on the timeline. Export a copy if you need one to last. |
| Your responsibility | Link only images you may share: your own, openly licensed ones (Wikimedia Commons, Flickr Creative Commons, museum open-access collections), or ones whose host allows embedding. The terms say so. |
| Complaints | A rights holder can Report a timeline or moment (category: copyright infringement) or send a notice as COPYRIGHT.md describes. The operator can restrict what is reported (moderation). |