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| Illustration ID: #290481 |
Stock images can be used in anything from commercial advertising, blogging, product creation or social media but make sure you understand your rights to an image before you use it.
Before you jump in and use “free stock images” make sure that you are not setting yourself up for a lawsuit. There are many stock image sites out there that are redistributing stock images illegally, often still with the watermark of the company that does have the right to distribute them. Once you find a reputable company like Vital Imagery Ltd. the next step is to determine if a standard license or an extended license is what you need.
Suppose you have a small business and one of your employees handles all of your advertising. That employee gets a license to an image through a standard single user subscription, or individual image purchase, and creates an advert – you are in compliance.
Here is a breakdown on some popular stock image usages and the license needed at iCLIPART.com and Clipart.com
Standard License:
Physical Pre-Printed Product (up to 500k cumulative images used)
Social Media, Blog or website decoration.
Digitized embroidery files (individual use)
Digital worksheets, documents or presentations (individual use, not for any type of distribution)
Extended License:
Print-On-Demand (individual image extended license)
Digital worksheets, documents or presentations for multiple distribution (Professional Subscription at iCLIPART.com, Extended Licensing Subscription at Clipart.com or individual image extended license)
E-cards (for multiple distribution)
E-books (Professional Subscription at iCLIPART.com, Extended Licensing Subscription at Clipart.com or individual image extended license)
Not allowed with any license at Vital Imagery Ltd:
You cannot trademark any product or logo that uses a stock image.
Digitized embroidery files (for multiple distribution)
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| Clipart ID: #1623079 |
of the biggest factors in determining if you need
a standard license or extended license is if
you’re creating pre-made physical products or
making products after your customer’s order comes in.
Example:
You are selling physical items on a site like Etsy. The physical products you are selling are pre-made and ready to go when an order comes in (standard license) or once an order comes in, you will create the product and then send it (individual image extended license).
Digital downloads from Teachers Pay Teachers. Products are being sold or redistributed to multiple customers. An Extended Licensing Subscription is needed from Clipart.com or a Professional Subscription from iCLIPART.com.
We are often asked why there are so many rules? The simple answer is that this is so the creators are fairly compensated. The images you use are royalty-free. You pay a one-time fee and stock image providers take care of paying royalties to the creators and photographers.
