Tag Archives: copyright

Let’s Talk About Free

Free content. It is a wonderful thing, right? Maybe.

Free content can indeed be a wonderful resource for professional creatives. However, you need to know the risks and be very familiar with the terms being granted.

iSPY is a great place to explore free content. We connect to 3 of the biggest free providers Pexels, Pixabay and Unsplash.

As of the writing of this post, Unsplash terms say:

“Unsplash grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash, but this license does not include the right to compile photos from Unsplash to replicate a similar or competing service”

This means that Photos on the Service come with a very, very broad copyright license under the Unsplash License. This is why we say that they are “Free to Use.”

Note that the Unsplash License does not include the right to use:

  • Trademarks, logos, or brands that appear in Photos
  • People’s images if they are recognizable in the Photos
  • Works of art or authorship that appear in Photo

So while the terms say you can use the content for commercial use, they also exclude recognizable people, trademarks, logos and brands. There are no notices on the images with respect to logos, models, or brands. There are also a lot of traps that can get you into hot water. For example, did you know you cannot use a photo of the Eiffel Tower lit at night? That is trademarked by a French company.

Pexels’ terms have a similar statement for how you may use the images, however, they add:

“5.7. Be aware that, depending on your intended use of the Content, you may need the permission or consent of a third party (e.g. owner of a brand, identifiable person or author/rights holder of copyrightable work depicted in the Content).”

Pixabay’s terms similarly add:

“Please be aware that while all Content on Pixabay is free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes, items in the Content, such as identifiable people, logos, brands, audio samples etc. may be subject to additional copyrights, property rights, privacy rights, trademarks etc. and may require the consent of a third party or the license of these rights – particularly for commercial applications. Pixabay does not represent or warrant that such consents or licenses have been obtained, and expressly disclaims any liability in this respect.”

So what does this mean?

This means that while all of these free providers allow commercial use, it is up to the buyer to know how a particular image may be used. Companies like Getty and Superstock, work to clear images for these uses.  If there are recognizable people, these sites will tell you if they have a model release or not.

Another key issue to consider is indemnification.  Traditional image licensors like Getty may indemnify you or your client if you have used the image as they allow and there is an issue. However, none of these free providers will offer you indemnity and furthermore, you will be pledging to indemnify them should you use the images or the site in a non-compliant manner.  Additionally, Pixabay and Pexels do not warrant anything to do with the images, including the accuracy of information or “any rights..”

Free content and collections are a great resource, but you need to understand rights, licensing and the limitations on how you can use the content these companies offer.

Read the license and remember, “buyer beware.”

Leslie Hughes is the CEO and Founder of iSPY Technologies, Inc. and iSPY Visuals, an intelligent search tool and workspace for visual content users. Hughes has nearly 30 years experience in digital media licensing, content production, and distribution, including having been President of Bill Gates’ Corbis Images, and President of the Markets and Products Group for Corbis Corp. She became an entrepreneur 10 years ago. Hughes has consulted or been part of 6 start-ups and 12 acquisitions. She has an MBA from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University and a BA from Colorado College. She is married and recently moved to Colorado.

Connect with Leslie: Twitter | LinkedIn | Angel List

The CASE Act Passes

This is a follow up to a previous blog post describing the CASE Act and how important this Act is to the creative community. Click here to see the original post.

The CASE ACT Passes!

Just before Christmas, Congress passed the CASE Act. The CASE Act creates a kind of “small claims” process for creators whose claims are less than $30,000. The Copyright Office is now required to create a Copyright Claims Board within one year of enacting the law. Learn more by clicking here.

Many organizations worked for years to get this passed.  We would like to thank those organizations including the Digital Media Licensing Association for all their hard work.

Leslie Hughes is the CEO and Founder of iSPY Technologies, Inc. and iSPY Visuals, an intelligent search tool and workspace for visual content users. Hughes has over 20 years experience in digital media licensing, content production, and distribution, including having been President of Bill Gates’ Corbis Images, and President of the Markets and Products Group for Corbis Corp. She became an entrepreneur 10 years ago. Hughes has consulted or been part of 6 start-ups and 12 acquisitions.  She has an MBA from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, is the proud mother of two and lives and works in New York.

Connect with Leslie: Twitter | LinkedIn | Angel List

The CASE Act

The CASE Act (H.R. 2426) was passed by the House and is now with the Senate.

If it passes the Senate, it will be sent to the President of the United States to be signed into law.  This is a good thing for creators.

In the past, it has been complicated, time-consuming and costly for creators to defend their copyrights. This law makes it much simpler and less costly to do so. This law helps independent photographers, designers, and anyone who creates copyrighted works to file an infringement claim.

What is the CASE Act: The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019

The CASE Act provides copyright owners a new way to file copyright infringement claims.  Now a creator can file more easily through the small-claims process. The law also allows for copyright users to adjudicate declarations of non-infringement; for owners and users to submit claims related to Section 512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and for would-be defendants to submit counterclaims and legal defenses such as fair use. The bill would establish a Copyright Claims Board within the Copyright Office to hear these claims.

Click here to see the Bill.

There is criticism of the Bill by those who fear this will impact their ability to share content freely or that think this will give companies the ability to bully users and bombard them with infringement claims. The reality is that copyright already exists as do many companies that do nothing but try to find infringement.  Companies already file claims against infringers. This law makes it easier for creators and defendants because it creates the small-claims process. Creators who don’t have the means that large companies have will now be able to defend their copyright.

Fair Use

There is something in the law called “fair use.” Simply put this is when the law says that for certain purposes content may be used without permission. However, the issue of “fair use” is actually far more complicated. Here is a link to a webinar on Fair Use hosted by the Digital Media Licensing Association if you want more information.

The bottom line is that all users need to be careful about what content they “take” and share. All content on the web is not free!  A creator has the right to choose if they want to freely share their works. With images, we have Creative Commons which is a means for creators to let people know that their content may be used free, either with defined conditions or with no conditions.  Please respect copyright. And if you want to use images that are free, select the free filter on iSPY. We have loads of creative commons (CC) content.  When you select a free image, make sure to read the terms to be sure you can use the content for your purpose.

Leslie Hughes is the CEO and Founder of iSPY Technologies, Inc. and iSPY Visuals, an intelligent search tool and workspace for visual content users. Hughes has over 20 years experience in digital media licensing, content production, and distribution, including having been President of Bill Gates’ Corbis Images, and President of the Markets and Products Group for Corbis Corp. She became an entrepreneur 10 years ago. Hughes has consulted or been part of 6 start-ups and 12 acquisitions.  She has an MBA from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, is the proud mother of two and lives and works in New York.

Connect with Leslie: Twitter | LinkedIn | Angel List

Copyright Hunters

(Note: This post should not be considered legal advice. We offer this for information and education purposes only. If you have any questions about specific usage, please contact the supplier or a copyright lawyer.)

The Rise of the Copyright Hunters

Copyright hunters – This is our term for the many companies popping up in recent years focused on going after people who are using created works without authorization. Many of these companies refer to what they do as copyright protection. I will explain this in more detail below but in general, these companies work on behalf of creators to identify unauthorized use or infringement. Creative pros need to be aware that if they find and grab images online, they are at risk. Even searching on a suppliers site (or on iSPY) you need to be certain you acquire the rights needed to use the image in the way you want. More below.

What is Copyright?

Copyright speaks to the protection offered by governments around the world to “authors of original works.” We will focus on images for this post but any tangible and original work is likely protected – music, images, art, drawings, books. When the work is created, the author immediately owns or is granted the copyright. This gives that artist the right to determine if and how others can use their work. In general, Copyright begins when the work is created and ends throughout the life of the author plus 70 years. There are other conditions where this may be different.

Copyright Protection

This is a term that is often used now to refer to the steps taken by creators to protect their copyright ownership. This can include things like watermarking images, or using a copyright symbol. There are also Creative Commons licenses which now allow the creator or their representative to offer use without compensation, possible with conditions like attribution.

Copyright Hunting

One kind of protection is when a creator or their representative provides copyrighted works to a company who can then use it to search the web for unauthorized use. This is what we call copyright hunting. These companies have technology that crawls the web and identifies every use, even when only with a fraction of the image showing. A report will likely be provided to the creator or their representative so they can determine if the use is authorized or not.

Copyright hunting is sometimes controversial. As you can imagine, with billions of images online, it can be expensive and time-consuming to verify each and every image use many times over. In recent years, some copyright hunters have gone after use not knowing if it was authorized or not, asking for the user to verify or prove that they have a proper license. This has become particularly important today since many images are distributed through many different channels. If they do not have a license, this is treated as an unauthorized use.

So what happens if I can’t prove I have a license?

It depends. Some copyright hunters will give you a chance to purchase the license, at a rate similar to what you would have paid if you had licensed the image originally. Some copyright hunters may charge a premium since the image was used without authorization. While we cannot advise if someone should pay, we can share that in our experience, it is usually cheaper to pay the license fee than fight if you don’t have a license.

So how does iSPY help?

First, we connect you with only the most reputable image suppliers. These companies are clear on what they offer. They understand what images can be used for specific purposes. You can search for images that meet certain criteria – like model releases when needed for commercial use. We include suppliers that offer high-end content, royalty free content, and even Creative Commons suppliers (no fee licensing).

Second, we have created a section for our pro and enterprise users for documents and licenses. You can literally upload a license, connect it to a project, include the image number and supplier information, and file it away for when you get that “nasty gram” asking you to prove you have a license. We think that is pretty awesome!

Feel free to reach out using the small icon on the bottom right of your screen, if you have any questions or suggestions. We are happy to help!

Happy searching!

Leslie Hughes is the CEO and Founder of iSPY Technologies, Inc. and iSPY Visuals, an intelligent search tool and workspace for visual content users. Hughes has over 20 years experience in digital media licensing, content production, and distribution, including having been President of Bill Gates’ Corbis Images, and President of the Markets and Products Group for Corbis Corp. She became an entrepreneur 10 years ago. Hughes has consulted or been part of 6 start-ups and 12 acquisitions.  She has an MBA from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, is the proud mother of two and lives and works in New York.

Connect with Leslie: Twitter | LinkedIn | Angel List