What Is an Image License?
At its core, image licensing is the legal means by which a photographer, artist or business can share their images with another party without the concern of theft, injury, or exploitation. Although those who are using free images may not see the need for business, artists, and professionals to protect themselves, it is increasingly common practice that image-owners utilize a license agreement to protect themselves from liability. If the license agreement isn’t carefully written, watered-down, or non-existent, at least half of the risk-reduction process of image-licensing is lost.
An image licensing agreement is a contractual document signed between an image provider and an image user. The image provider issues rights to the image user in the form of a permission grant, which allows the image user to use an image for a specific purpose. In exchange for the permission to use the image, the image user agrees to pay an agreed-upon license fee (this is not always a monetary trade — some licenses may entail other forms of consideration). An example of a license agreement in practice is the following: Sue wants to use an image Danyelle created of an adorable puppy. Sue will put the image on her dog grooming website , and print the image on pamphlets. In exchange for the use of Danyelle’s image, Sue will provide her services for free. They agree to sign a license agreement.
The license agreement in this situation needs to cover the details of the use of the image, such as: In the absence of a license agreement, Sue will be able to use the image however she pleases, without restriction. As much as Sue loves dogs, so too do others. If Sue’s friend Tim were to see the puppy image on Sue’s website, and Sue had not put a license agreement in place, Tim would be able to legally download the image and use it without consequence from Danyelle. Because there is no license agreement in place, Tim has no legal obligation to warn Danyelle of the use, and since image-legal cases are complicated matters when they do reach court, by that time, the use could very well be cheap, easy, fast, and viral on the internet.
Components of an Image License Agreement
A standard image license agreement typically consists of the following essential elements:
Grant of Rights. This section should specify the exact rights being granted to the licensee, including whether rights are exclusive or nonexclusive and whether these rights apply to particular media, geographic areas or for particular uses.
Term. Specify the term that the license will last.
Territory. Limit the place where the license applies to specific territories, if desired.
Payment. Include all the financial terms, including whether there is an upfront or one-time fee or whether the licensee must pay a royalty. Also note whether any royalties are recurring (or what length the cycle is, i.e., monthly, annually).
Attribution and Credit. Any requirement for attribution and the type of credit to be provided should also be included.
Permitted or Prohibited Uses. This section of an image license agreement can include a range of restrictions on use, such as commercial or noncommercial or prohibiting certain uses like merchandise, etc. There may also be restrictions on future uses or even related uses.
Indemnification. This section relieves the licensor of liability for various uses of the images or other actions by the licensee’s use of the images.
Advantages of Using a License Agreement Template
By using an existing license agreement template, you can significantly reduce the amount of legal research that needs to be performed before finalizing an image license agreement. These templates typically contain terms and conditions that are tailored to the specific purpose of the license, so you do not have to spend as much time tracking down phrases or provisions that you want to use.
The agreement templates also give you a solid understanding of the relevant laws before making the license agreement into a legally binding document. You will already have a good sense of the potential legal ramifications before even contacting a lawyer to have the agreement finalized, so the opportunity to customize the agreement is both important and fairly straightforward.
Since most license agreement templates contain clearly written terms, that means you can also get some clarity on your proposed deal.
How to Edit Your Template for an Image License Agreement
If you decide to use a template, it is important to customize the template to fit your needs and your particular situation. There are some times when you would want to adjust the terms of the license agreement, for example. Or there might be additional provisions you want to include or delete based on your needs. One of the most important areas you must focus on when customizing is making sure you’re protecting your intellectual property rights. Each party should always be protecting their own intellectual property rights as well, so there might be provisions that should be deleted or modified if applicable. Simply adding extra provisions can help meet that goal. In addition, when you do determine what provisions need to be added or deleted , you also want to make sure that you’re not overriding certain interests of the other party in a way that could detrimentally affect them in the future.
It is also important to highlight the time period in which the agreement is valid for. Just because someone uses your images now, doesn’t mean they will be able to continue using them later. There’s no reason an image may not stay relevant with someone forever. They should be given permission to use the agreement for a specified period of time, but again, it is in everyone’s best interests if that time period is clearly defined. If you are considering modifying a template license agreement to specify that a licensee can only use the images for a certain period of time and then must ask for permission again to continue use, you may want to consider adding language to the license agreement that clarifies how long they are going to have the request period.
Common Errors to Avoid
One of the most common mistakes people make with image license agreements is the failure to update them to reflect accurate industry standards. Often, small changes here and there may impact your ability to collect reasonable payment for use of your images. As the world of digital photography and graphic images continues to evolve at breakneck speed, the marketplace value of usage rights should also keep pace with the current standard regulations.
Failing to maintain proper records is also problematic for the creators of graphic images. There are those who fail to provide verifiable information (such as a relevant URL or contact info where the image was used) upon licensing their work. Promptly completing a record of an image license agreement will help to avoid future difficulties and may help you collect damages when the licensee does not comply with the agreement.
Another error that frequently occurs is granting a broader-than-intended usage rights for the image in question. When the details of the agreement are not expressly stated, a licensee may claim broad usage rights that can negatively impact your ability to collect appropriate compensation. Carefully outlining what rights have been granted and how much a licensee must compensate you for those rights can be extremely valuable down the road.
Where to Get Templates
There are a variety of sources for image license agreement templates, both free and paid, that can be found online. Organizations like the American Bar Association even provide free samples. The websites of law schools around the nation often have samples of contracts. You can even find free samples by doing a simple Boolean search.
However, not all template sources are exactly what they seem, and it’s important to know that plenty of places offer "samples" that are really just tricks to get people to sign up and buy the full contract. Legal forms websites are notorious for this. Those who already have certain kinds of agreements on their computer may find free samples online that suddenly start informing them that they need to buy the full subscription to get any more contracts .
When selecting a template, make sure that it comes from a reputable source or that it’s been vetted by a lawyer. It’s also important to avoid simply cutting and pasting from one template to another. Many people make the mistake of doing this by literally copying some parts of one and some parts of another in order to create their own. You shouldn’t do this without consulting a lawyer because several templates could contain terms that cancel one another out and can lead to confusion. It’s also a good idea to visit the resources section of this site to see if we have what you need.
Another thing to look out for is a provider that’s always updating its templates to reflect changes in the law without making you pay extra. If the resources section of your provider is rarely updated and looks like it hasn’t been updated in years, you may want to think twice about using its agreements.