It would be an understatement to say that we live in a digital age. With computers, smartphones and tablets, the average consumer has access to multiple forms of media at all times. While watching a video, posting to our favorite social media site, or browsing current headlines, we are constantly connected to a vast network of information.
Smart businesses take advantage of such technologies by getting information about their products in front of this ever-growing consumer base. Whether through banner, expandable, floating or panoramic ads, or one of the many other forms of online advertising, there’s a good chance some form of visual imagery will be used in a campaign.
During the 10 years that I have spent as a designer, it has become apparent that a large number of users simply do not understand the legal ownership of their photos. It is natural to think that having an image in your possession means you own it, but that’s often not the case. With advancements in image identification technologies, many photo rights owners are scanning the Web in search of offenders. Once found, steep fees are assessed for every violation. This can be extremely costly to advertisers who post their ads on multiple networks. Think a $1,000 fee is bad? Try multiplying that by several hundred.
All this can occur without the offender knowing they were in violation to begin with. So how do you prevent this from happening? Here are a few basic tips for understanding who owns the rights to your photos:
The photo was sitting in our internal archives
Archives are typically a collection of photos that a company has acquired throughout the years. Unless each image is clearly labeled with the original rights, you risk violating the agreement of the true copyright owner. Be sure to do a full background check on every image before using it. Chances are the correct licensing wasn’t acquired to begin with, or a more limited license was purchased that does not apply to your situation.
I found the photo on Google Images
Google’s robots crawl websites for relevant imagery and then index them. If you want to use one, you will need to contact the website owner to hopefully track down the true copyright holder (which, very likely, isn’t the website owner). From there, you will need to acquire permission from that source before you can use the image. As this can become cumbersome, I would recommend purchasing one from a stock vendor instead.
We hired a photo studio/photographer to take it for us
If you hired a photographer to take pictures of your product, it is only natural to think that you own the rights to the final image(s). On the contrary, by default, the photo studio or photographer owns the rights. Only when they release them (the rights) to you are you able to use the image. This can get tricky though, as many places sell different versions of their licensing. For instance, you may have purchased an Editorial Use Only license, which means you cannot use the photo for advertisements. Alternatively, you may have only purchased a print license, which means you cannot use the image online. Be sure to check the type of license you purchased before using the image. If, in doing so, you learn that you do not have the correct license, or if you want to make sure you do, simply contact the rights owner and upgrade your purchase if necessary.
We purchased the photo from a stock photography site
There are many stock photography companies out there, and each one offers an array of different licenses. From Royalty-Free (RF), Rights Managed (RM), Editorial Use Only, Standard License, Extended License, to many others, there are restrictions and limitations that determine how you may use the image. Remember, just because you bought it doesn’t mean you own it. It is the stock company and/or its licensor that retains all rights. You are simply purchasing the option to use the image under the terms defined by the stock provider. Be sure to check which license you acquired and verify that you are using it correctly.
We took the image in-house using our own equipment
If an employee of your company took the photo, then the company owns the copyright. This is the most ideal situation because there are no licensing restrictions to worry about. However, unless you have an in-house studio with high-end lighting and a $5,000 camera, there’s a good chance your images will not be as professional looking as you’d like.
Our graphics department created the image
The first question I ask a client is, “How did they create it?” Unless your graphics department illustrated everything by hand, or used a camera to take the photo(s), it is likely that they used parts of images taken from other sources. The most common are stock images Photoshopped to include your product. This usually blends several licenses together, which means you need to be sure the correct licensing was purchased for each image used. Keep in mind that some stock companies have restrictions as to how much you can manipulate their images.
Photo licensing can be complicated. Yet it is only fair to give proper credit to the true copyright owner, and pay them accordingly. Of course, determining who the proper copyright owner is can be difficult, which is why the safest rule to go by is: when in doubt, don’t use it.