140: How to Use Licensing Agreements to Protect Your Photography Business

The Legal Paige® Podcast

If you’re a photographer you know how hard you work to get the perfect shot.

Between creating an ideal lighting scenario, mastering composition, choosing the correct lens, and ensuring your photo sessions run smoothly– you tell a story unlike any other. Many people don’t understand the astronomical amount of post-processing work that happens before a client ever sees their final images (which makes it even more frustrating when someone uses your work for their advertising without consent or payment).

Situations like this pop up all the time in the photography industry. Maybe a venue uses your image on a magazine advertisement without paying for the rights to use it or you see a local dress shop using your images for their latest campaign. In fact, The TLP Facebook Community is filled with questions surrounding this exact topic so you are in good company if you’ve ever wondered, “How do I protect my images while also being generous with my work?”

The solution is quite simple…a licensing agreement can help!

Although vendors often work together, that does not mean you have to give your copyrighted work to vendors for free nor can your vendors automatically use your photos without consent. In Episode 140 of The Legal Paige Podcast I dig into the power of licensing agreements and how you can ultimately leverage them in your business.

DO PHOTOGRAPHERS HAVE COPYRIGHT OWNERSHIP OVER THEIR IMAGES?

Before we dig into licensing agreements, let’s address the legal heavy question on your mind: Do photographers have sole copyright ownership over their images?

The answer is YES! A hundred times over, yes.

(Under U.S. Law, The Copyright Act of 1976 and Title U.S.C. 17 to be exact).

Copyright protection exists the moment your work is created and fixed in a tangible form that can be seen either directly (in a physical form) or with the aid of a machine or device, such as a digital/film camera and computer.

This means you have copyright ownership over your photographs the moment your clients pose, say cheese, or make a funny face and your button is clicked.

With all this in mind remember this: vendors should NOT be using your photos without your permission, in fact NO ONE should be using your photos for commercial reasons without your permission. This is considered copyright infringement and it is against the law. To help protect yourself from infringement we recommend you make it known to every vendor that they can only use your photos if they license them from you first.

SHOULD YOU SHARE YOUR IMAGES WITH VENDORS FOR FREE?

It goes without saying, I am an attorney…not your marketing advisor. There are a wide array of opinions on this topic and some marketing experts m