What is a Photography License Agreement?
A photography license agreement is a legally binding contract that grants permission to the client, often referred to as the "licensee," to use a creative work—in this case, a photograph—within specified limits. Photographer’s who think their work is protected by copyright should understand that copyright does not empower the photographer to control how others may use their work; rather, copyright creates a right of action against those who violate the photographer’s exclusive rights of distribution and reproduction. Most clients have no knowledge or understanding of copyright, let alone that the work they have contracted for is protected. So even when photographers own the copyright in the photographs they may not hear from a client for some time even if the client is using the photographs.
In photography, a license agreement is important for both parties to the agreement. For the photographer it is an important tool for protecting their valuable creations. And, while few clients would likely misrepresent that they were the creator of a copyrighted work, any responsible and ethical photographer would still secure a license agreement before result in the client straying beyond limits. In certain cases, a client could be mistaken or misled into believing the license agreement grants them rights they actually do not have.
While there is no limitation regarding how broad a licensing agreement can be , most photographers will limit the rights granted by the license agreement to specific purposes and specify those purposes within the agreement, along the lines of advertising and promotional uses, web and digital applications, publication. Photographers often restrict the time that client can use the photographs to a finite duration, but it is not uncommon for licensing agreements to grant unlimited use for a limited duration, 5 to 10 years or upon expiration of the useful life in the subject matter.
Whenever photographers are engaged to capture certain moments—notably fine art photography, photojournalism, sports, weddings, and other events—a license agreement should cover the eventuality that the client will want to use the photographs in a way that was never discussed. While a business may have a solid and predictable history of using photographs, similarly a family member may have her heart set on using a wedding photograph on a hair salon website. A broad license agreement is vitally important to protect the photographer from these other uses, since the photographer may not have an opportunity to address these uses with the client prior to the client using a photograph because of the finite duration of the event or occasion.
Photographers Licenses Agreement Sections
The first component of a license is the usage rights. A license agreement must state how the photographs can be used, for what duration of time and in what geography. This component may be most relevant to the end user who will be licensing the photographs.
The end user wants to know how long they can use the photographs and whether their use will be restricted to a certain territory. The shooter or full service provider wants to know how long they can expect to be paid a license fee for the use of the photographs. This is typically every year so if an end user plans to use a photograph for ten years then it would be expected that the license fee would be paid every year for ten years.
Some license agreements contain geographic restrictions on the territory in which they can be used. The actual geography of the use is worth considering because that will have a large impact on the license fee.
The next component of a license agreement is payment. Whether the shooter has agreed to a fee, a percentage of the income from the use of the photographs or a royalty for the use of the photographs, should be clearly stated.
Why Choose a PDF for Your Photography License Agreement?
So why do I send my photography license agreement in a PDF format? Well, there are several benefits to both you and me for having my stock photo license agreement sent in a .pdf format. Since you have a registered account with my site, your downloads area has a copy of the license for every file you have ever purchased and is available there for re-download anytime. These documents are all in .pdf format. Adobe PDF is a universal format for documents that can be opened by virtually any computer regardless of your operating system. They have the same appearance on screen and on paper. You can also easily print them out or forward a copy but you can’t easily change them. A PDF preserves the original formatting and removes any formatting problems that can occur in older document design software. An individual file becomes fully self contained for easy transfer. It retains the fonts and images so you see it exactly like I intended. It also allows me to reduce the file size for faster download speeds without affecting the quality. It keeps all of the text as text, not an image. This is critical for my searchable word index, for you to do a keyword search. It also keeps the text available for copy & paste, to help you search with Google or other any other search engine you like. I personally find it invaluable to be able search for "squirrel" in the license index and immediately find all of my photos licensed for squirrels, so I can quickly see which ones I might not have on hand to provide a photo for the current request.
How to Write a Photography License Agreement
A photographer’s license agreement should contain, at a minimum, a few key sections. If you’re not sure where to begin when it comes to drafting or negotiating a license agreement, this section of the guide can help. Here are some pointers to consider when drafting a license agreement for your photographs.
Do you have exclusivity? Although exclusivity may limit the length of time that you are able to license your work, it is important to maintain this control. If you already licensed the images to others, it will be difficult to barter or offer images too, and if those images are already in use, clients and magazines may not want to wait to use them until their exclusivity period is over.
Is the license permanent or temporary? Do not forget to include an expiration date in your licensing agreement. A temporary license gives the licensee the right to use your work for a particular amount of time before the license expires and then the images must be returned. To be safe, the license agreement should include exactly where and how the work can be used, in addition to when it must be returned to you, if the work is only being licensed temporarily.
Don’t forget to include payment and credit. If you are agreeing to give the rights to your photographs, make sure to include a licensing fee. If a company cannot afford the fee, consider giving them the photographs as a form of advertisement instead. The license agreement should also specify how to credit you (for example "Photo by Your Name") when using your photographs in print or digital media.
How to Edit Your License Agreement
The licensing agreement presented above is fairly comprehensive; however, you may have particular needs or wants that require some minor tweaking of the agreement. One of the areas most likely to require customization is the grant of license section. For instance, if you’re licensing exclusively to an advertising agency, for re-use by a single client, and the work is intended for a single usage, then delete the "Jointly and Synchronously" phrase, and add the words "to permit the client of [insert name of advertising agency] to use the Property in a single advertisement on single, continuous, uninterrupted transmission or publication." In this case, you should also be certain to say that the photography may not be used by the advertising agency or client for resale or license to others without your express written permission. (This is the tool that will help you prevent re-use of your work by others without your permission.) The definition of "Portfolio" and "Commercial Use" can also be adjusted to meet your needs; you can include or exclude instances of personal use if you desire. Generally, however, you will want to allow for personal use if you hope to maintain a good relationship with the subject of the photographs in question . If your clients are generally families with children, adding a clause like "For purposes of this Agreement, ‘Portfolio’ shall include, but not be limited to, use of the Property in photo albums, portfolios, picture frames, scrapbooks, and in any art or craft, and shall include the subject’s names and likenesses to the extent they were provided to Photographer for use with the Property" will allow the family to share the photographs with family and friends without fear of monetary implications. Likewise, a family or couple will generally want copies for family or personal albums; as long as the sales that take place in those locations are not advertised, you should be comfortable granting this right. Likewise, you can adjust the use rights to grant rights on a one-time basis, or in perpetuity and in all media, as well as the number of times the photography can be reproduced. Just keep in mind that the more burdensome you make an agreement for your client, and the stricter you are about enforcing that agreement, the less likely you are to land the job. This means that budgets may be limiting, but it also helps establish a good reputation for yourself as a photographer.
Typical Clauses in Photography License Agreements
A number of clauses pop up in various licensing agreements, and photographers should be familiar with them. These are some of the more common ones:
Indemnification Clause
Generally speaking, an indemnification clause allows parties to hold each other harmless for certain types of claims. For example, if a party faces a lawsuit, and the other party is responsible for the subject of the claim, then the second party could defend the first party against that lawsuit. Indemnification clauses can be very broad or very limited.
Termination
Most license agreements have termination clauses that allow the agreement to terminate under certain circumstances. Termination clauses usually set forth the process for terminating the license or the obligation of the parties to do something. A license agreement may also not be terminated until a party has an opportunity to cure a breach within a certain period of time.
Choice of Law Clause
This provision allows for the parties to choose which state’s laws apply to the agreement. This is especially helpful for international agreement disputes, as the parties can agree to apply US law regardless. Common choice of law provisions will say that the state court of a certain jurisdiction will decide any dispute arising out of the agreement.
Software and Resources for PDF Agreements
There are a number of tools and resources available for creating and editing photography license agreement PDFs. Software such as Adobe Acrobat or Nitro Pro can be used to create PDFs from scratch. Most word processing programs also have the ability to "save as PDF" to print a document as a PDF file. For modules hosted on our website, we use MooTools which, among other things , can be configured to generate a print preview that is saved as a PDF.
There are also a number of sources online that offer templates or forms that best serve your practice. FormSource has a number of different license agreement templates and contract documentation you can customize by state. PhotographyContractTemplates has templates for model releases, shooting contracts and photography licensing agreements. Finally, I-Contracts offers a free software download for generating contracts.