Much has been written about copyright, intellectual property and licensing, so I’m not going to repeat all that.
I’m often asked questions about licensing and I’m going to summarise my thoughts on the issue as succinctly as I can below:
Copyright remains mine. There’s no discussion to be had here, sorry.
I will always endeavour to license you images for all the usage that you require.
In general, the more you expect to use images I’ve made for you, the more I’d expect to be paid.
As a corollary, I will only charge you for usage you actually require, and be sensible about it.
Licensing can be arranged to provide for other parties, such as your clients or media partners, to also use the same images at the same time.
If you’re wondering why you should pay to license your images, here are some reasons:
Global, unrestricted usage is expensive. You don’t need to pay for usage that you don’t need.
Once you’ve exclusively licensed an image for a specific use, I won’t be able to license the same image to anyone else for the same use for the duration of your licence. This saves you the potential embarrassment, for example, of ending up with a competitor using the same images - as happens fairly often with certain types of stock photography.
I will have an interest in pursuing anyone who makes unauthorised usage of the images and will therefore be effectively monitoring infringement on your behalf and protecting your brand and reputation for you.
The good news is that a basic licence is typically included in my shoot fees. I’m always happy to discuss any further usage needs my clients have, and arrive at a mutually beneficial licensing arrangement.
For further reference, please visit these two excellent resources:
The ‘Copyright4Clients’ FAQ, courtesy of the Association of Photographers.
‘Why Use Rights Managed Photography?’ by Allen Murabayashi, co-founder of Photoshelter, on the Libris blog.
