Ditto.com, a small company formerly known as Arriba Software, operates a popular visual search engine at the Web site www.ditto.com.In response to queries from users; Ditto.com will retrieve images instead of text. It produces a list of thumbnail pictures that are relevant to the user’s query. While this functionality provides a valuable service to consumers, it has generated considerable controversy about the scope of intellectual property protection for on-line photographs and images.