Exploring Image Rights
What to know when signing your next photography contract
You’re excited for your upcoming photo shoot and are getting the first pieces out of the way. While reading the contract you get to the section about copyrights and realize, “I have no idea what any of this stuff means!”
Creator Rights?
Limited Usage-Rights?
Digital Rights?
The good news is, you’re far from alone! It can be difficult to understand all the legal jargon. Even if you do understand what the contract states, it can be even harder to know what rights you actually need for the uses you envision for your soon-to-be-created photos.
In this blog post, we break down the biggest differences between photography rights and what may be your best options for your desired use. This is meant to help guide you, but we can’t stress it enough: This blog is not legal advice!
With that in mind, let’s dive in!
Creator Rights
Photographers automatically are the owners of all images they create as they are the author of those images. They are the ones who determine to what extent images are used by granting image licenses or rights. It is worth noting that, being commissioned to create images for a person or brand does not give the commissioner the image rights. The photographer always holds the rights of the images and decides how his or her images will be used.
Additionally, as a client receiving rights to images as part of your photography contract, make sure the extent of your rights is included explicitly in your written contract. In a worst-case scenario, you won’t find yourself in a he-said-she-said legal dispute.
Full-Rights vs. Usage-Rights
These are two of the most commonly used types of rights in photography. However, they aren’t very specific. We find it’s best to use the term ‘exclusive’ instead of “full-rights” and “limited” instead of “usage-rights” as they actually refer to different types of rights within a basic photography contract. Keep reading to learn more!
Exclusive vs. Non-Exclusive
Exclusive Rights
The licensee has sole rights to use the images.
Photographers cannot give the rights to these images to additional licensees.
Exclusive Rights does not mean the licensee (client) is the author. Most commonly, the photographer will maintain Creator Rights (as the author of the images) and has rights to use them a well (typically within their portfolio or for their own marketing).
Owners with exclusive rights can sue for copyright infringement because they own negative rights of prohibition, meaning it helps the owner prevent any actions that compromise the uninterrupted use of the work.
Non-Exclusive Rights
Defines the way(s) a licensee (the client of a photographer) can use images.
By definition, non-exclusive states that the photographer can license the same image or set of images to multiple licensees at the same time. It doesn’t matter if your brand name or product is in the photos.
Non-exclusive rights holders cannot sue for copyright infringement.
Commericial, Private, Editorial
Commercial or Private Use: Using a photographer’s images within a brand’s marketing (commercially) is very different from displaying a printed image in your home (private use). In order to make money with an image (use it in an ad, display it on your website, etc), you must have commercial rights to the image. Even if you use an image in a way that could result in monetary gain for your brand, you need to have commercial rights.
Editorial: Blogs, newspapers, magazines, print publications, and other educational resources are often considered non-commercial meaning they do not need commercial rights to use the images, even if their publication will make money off the image through subscriptions or sales. However, advertorial articles (a paid-ad that’s written to look like an article) must retain commercial rights since the goal (and possible outcome) is to make money off the advertorial article.
Duration (limited), Contents, Spatial of Rights
As a client, you can’t assume that the terms of rights are automatically unlimited. The photographer/owner of the images sets the duration of use.
Duration: Limited-rights often refer to the length of time on a calendar year in which a licensee can use the imagery. If a licensee has 1-year usage rights from the time the images are delivered, they are not allowed to continue to use the images (on websites, social media, print, etc) after the 1-year expires. At that point, the licensee could purchase additional rights or opt for another photoshoot to update the imagery they had been using for the past year.
Location: Some usage rights limit where the imagery can be used (by country or continent, for example).
Digital vs. Print
Don’t assume your rights allow you to print the images for anything you wish. Digital-only rights allow you to use the imagery on your website, social media, online ads, etc. Print-rights typically have tiers of what kind of final product will be printed. Printing your headshot on your business card often requires different rights that printing it on a billboard. Print rights also typically mean you cannot claim the work to be your own or edit or alter the image to claim it as your own.
Let’s say, for example, you have print rights to a photo of a pineapple but you do not own the image. You can print the pineapple, edit it and reprint it 100 times and wallpaper your entire living room with it. However, you cannot sell the wallpaper and claim it to be your creation since you did not create the original pineapple image.
It’s important to note that broadcast rights are not included in digital rights. If you’re looking to create an ad for broadcast television, make sure to go over the details with your photographer or videographer upfront.
Designation of the Author
In some cases, the photographer will require being credited when you use the imagery. Sometimes this is as simple as adding a camera emoji and tagging the photographer’s Instagram handle in a post. Other times it includes a photo credit in print below the image. Your contract should note if the photographer needs to be credited, how, and if he or she wants to credited using their first and last name or using their photography business name.
If you love the work and want to give the photographer a virtual high-five, please give them credit! This is a great way to give him or her much-appreciated credit for free (even if your contract doesn’t require it).
Right to Edit
There’s a long-standing joke in the photography industry regarding the hours a photographer spends perfecting their client’s final images only to scroll past one on Instagram to find the Valencia filter slapped on it. While some photographers don’t care if clients re-edit images, others do and contractually do not allow it. The reason for this is that editing a photo differently than the photographer who created and then crediting the photographer can change how prospective clients (and the rest of your audience) may view the work of the photographer. If the photographer edits the image in a style specific to his or her brand, then tagging them in the photo you’ve edited again is not a true representation of the photographer, their years of work experience, or the type of photography editing prospective clients can expect to see from them.
The © Symbol
Lastly, the copyright symbol isn’t required in order to protect the work under copyright law. As of 1989, it’s not necessary to give copyright notice in order to protect the author. If you do include it, it’s merely become a fancy way of saying, “This is mine!”
As you can see, there are a TON of different aspects to photography usage and rights. Here at Quincy Street Kitchen, we include explicitly stated rights in each of our contracts. These rights vary from client to client depending upon how the images will be used.
Interested in talking further to go over copyright details for your next project?
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