Corbis

Corbis Corporation is a buyer/seller of high-quality photography and film footage and related rights, based in Seattle, Washington. It has a collection of more than 100 million creative, entertainment and historic images, a comprehensive footage library, extensive rights and clearances expertise, and a roster of elite assignment photographers. Corbis is privately owned by Bill Gates, who founded the company in 1989 under the name Interactive Home Systems (a name currently held by an unrelated, slightly older company based in Concord, Massachusetts). One major reason for starting the company was Gates's belief that people would someday decorate their homes with a revolving display of digital artwork using digital frames. The company's name was changed to Continuum Productions in 1994 and to Corbis Corporation a year later. "Corbis" is Latin for "wicker basket," which at the time referred to the company's emerging view of itself as a receptacle or storehouse for visual media. Bill... full article at wikipedia