In the US, the Right of Publicity allows individuals to control how their likeness is used for commercial purposes. When people appear in an image, and you use that image for commercial purposes (as opposed to editorial/news purposes), you need to have a model release. When it comes to managing all your photo licenses, organizations often rely on digital asset management (DAM) systems to enter specifics on how and when an image can be used. The price for an internal Powerpoint presentation will be much lower than a worldwide print campaign. Licensing prices (which can range from one to thousands of dollars), by contrast, are usually based on usage. “Buying” means you’re obtaining a full-right buyout, inclusive of the copyright, and this is typically a very expensive proposition.

When it comes to photos, you’re typically licensing the image rather than buying it. So when it comes to commercial use of images, you need to make sure you have permission.

US Copyright Law offers up to $150,000 of statutory damages per infringement plus court costs. Both instances are illegal, but the brand is more likely to get sued. It’s one thing for a teen to steal and image and post it on Instagram, and another thing for a brand to steal an image to promote a product or service. In theory, no one can use that image without your explicit permission, but in practice, once that image has been thrown online, the likelihood of theft can be high depending on the quality of the image.įor companies, organizations and schools, assuming that you have the rights to use an image you find online can be an extremely expensive mistake. In the US, the moment you take a picture, you own the copyright for that image. Flickr is one of the largest repositories of user generated photographic content, and many of these images are available for use with certain stipulations. The proliferation of digital devices has made all of us photographers, but that doesn’t mean we always have an image for a report, article or ad in our own library.

Flickr pricing