EBizInsider

The design industry has streamlined the way we create designs and acquire content. Long gone are the days of typesetting firms, photostat cameras, and wax paste-ups (though the venerable x-acto blade has its place… along side the first aid kit). Type setting and image acquisition no longer require lengthy waits for content providers or scheduled photo shoots. The Internet lets you gather resources for your projects within minutes or hours. The stock photography industry has flourished and the type industry isn’t far behind. These conveniences come at a price you can’t afford to ignore — Licensing.

Stock photography traditionally required close monitoring and has been licensed almost from the start. While often overlooked, license agreements are legally binding and with any signed contract, digital or written, you had better know what you are signing.

Fonts Font foundries and distribution sites thrive by offering online purchases. DaFont.com is a popular distribution site which allows you to quickly and effectively search for a font from several foundries at once. Once you have the font—then what? The License Agreement for Font Software on Dafont.com states that the font may be stored in one geographic location and stored on up to 5 computers. The font file may only be stored on one file server that is accessed by a limited amount of machines. The font purchased is available only to computers and geographic location and may not be shared with others. Once purchased, that font is to be used and stored by the purchasing company and no others.

For more options, you are often asked to contact the supplier for what is often known as an Extended License. These End User License Agreements (EULA) also state that the license is non-transferable. This prevents your designer from supplying the font or image to anyone outside your company. Clients often mistakenly assume they will have font usage rights after a particular project is over. This can create client and designer legal woes. In some cases, though “essentially not permitted”, some Eula’s do offer a transfer of license so that the font may be transferred to a new party. Obviously, these limitations cause great concern when dealing with embedding resources into an online document or supplying documents to a professional printer for mass reproduction. The EULA will often allow the printer limited rights (providing they agree to the EULA) where they may accept the font for reproduction and editing purposes only. They cannot be made available elsewhere after the project is completed.

Many people simply avoid the legalese and go with free fonts. Several sites on the Internet provide fonts for limited or unrestricted use, but even these have some form of license. Often you’ll see the term Freeware, Shareware or Public Domain associated with a font. These licenses can be explained as follows:

• Freeware is commonly known as software (fonts included) that is available free of charge.

• Shareware will allow use upfront with an expectation of payment after a limited amount of time.

• Public Domain often refers to items which are not copyrighted or have expired copyrights and are available to anyone.

Even sites that offer free fonts may have fine print such as: “If no author/license is indicated that’s because we don’t have information, that doesn’t mean it’s free.” This notice can be found on Dafont.com and is very clear in warning that you must never assume that a font is free even when you can’t find the license for it.

Many of the basic licensing practices applied to fonts translate to online stock photography as well.

Stock Photography Within the last 10 years, this industry has seen the bulk of its market move away from print and towards digital media. What started off as a means of selling “secondary images” or “location shoot rejects” has become a $1.8 billion dollar annual industry. The resource firms have grown in numbers and the added competition has resulted in higher quality images and competitive costs. At the same time, stock photography has opened itself up to new forms of piracy. A 2003 study by the Stock Artist’s Alliance in conjunction with PicScout concluded that 9 out of 10 online Rights Managed stock images experienced unauthorized use. Stock Photo companies realized they were experiencing a staggering loss of revenue in an online environment that was not monitored. Soon, a new industry was born. PicScout is one of many companies that monitor the web looking for misuse and blatant theft of licensed images. Collection from unauthorized image use is contributing revenue for Stock Photographers and even leads to repeat custom business. This is revenue that used to go uncollected. Stock Photo companies are keeping an eye on their photos’ uses, even if you aren’t.

The monitoring and enforcement of online Stock Photo licenses is now a growing industry. Rights Managed images are typically of higher quality and more unique in concept. The prices associated with these images are controlled by the author and usually vary based on the end use. Royalty Free means that you can use the image freely in a project without paying additional and often confusing fees. These images typically have a flat fee regardless of the type of usage. Both types of images have licenses regardless of the term “free.” That low cost image that you selected for your homepage was appropriate, affordable, and potentially on 10 other websites across the internet. Conversely, a premium image could cost hundreds of dollars for a single use on your homepage. It is probably perfect in every way… and only available on this exact location and nowhere else, not even your interior pages.

In this case, the Royalty Free images are common but attractive. Still, you are limited in what you may do with it and how often you may reproduce it. Some stock houses prevent you from reproducing their Royalty Free images on sellable items such as t-shirts or mugs. Some prevent the use of their images in magazines without special acknowledgement to the Stock Photo company and photographer. Other suppliers may allow you to display their images online but without any modifications.

These licenses, though similar to EULA for Fonts, are different enough to be required reading. Many stock houses will place the following restrictions on their images:

• You are entitled to a limit run of the image in a printed manner

• The image may not be used for resale purposes, such as on T-Shirts or web site Templates

• The licensed image may only be stored and used by the licensee. That is, the license is non-transferable.

Violating any of these restrictions will constitute an “unauthorized use.” In September 2007, news syndicate Reuter’s hired Attributor Corporation to monitor and enforce their online news content and trademarks. Maintaining the integrity of their photographers’ images and controlling where their content is published has become a top concern. Don’t think you’re too small of a target for Stock Photo companies to find. Online technology is advancing daily, watermarking technology is invisible to the naked eye and automated tracking via online “spiders” is becoming more and more common. More companies offer online monitoring and enforcement today than ever. Online licensing is a serious matter.

When dealing with a 3rd party design house or freelancers, be sure that they adhere to the license terms set forth by online resource providers. You will pay if your designer carelessly lifted the image from a Stock Photo company without securing the proper license. If you are caught using an unauthorized image, you will at least be asked to take it down immediately. More commonly, a legal injunction will be presented and the fees will be much more than the cost of the actual image(s) used.

Keep track of Stock Photo purchases as proof of ownership in the event that you are audited. Most Stock Photo companies will have an internal record of your purchase so your paper trail may not be needed.

Whenever you use digital resources like Fonts and Stock Images, review the agreements in full. Resource providers are businesses. They provide much needed services to our industry and earn their profits. This article focused primarily on Fonts and Stock Photos, but legal enforcement is not limited to these resources. Video abuse is a genuine concern for content providers. Rest assured; they’re watching you.

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