How can I license my photos for commercial website use but forbid redistribution or resale?
Asked 12/4/2012
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2 answers
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I want to let people use my photos freely, including on commercial websites, but I do not want them to redistribute, resell, or include the images in products sold to third parties (for example website themes, templates, or stock packs). I haven’t found a standard GPL or Creative Commons license that seems to fit. Is there a license approach for this?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
3
All the "open" licenses are all about distribution, I don't believe you'll find what you are looking for there.
Just about all stock photo sites/agencies have just such a license, but unfortunately you can't use their licenses without permission.
You can try to find a smaller site that is run by one person (or very few) and ask nicely to use their license (I have no idea if this will work, but I assume that in any large site with dedicated support department you won't be able to contact someone who can give you that permission).
You can get a lawyer and tell them you want something like the license of your favorite stock photo site, maybe this will get the license written more quickly (and therefor cheaply) - or maybe not, depending on the lawyer.
And as always with legal advice: I'm not a lawyer, don't take legal advice from strangers on the internet, etc.
Originally by user2481. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2481
13y ago
0
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There generally isn’t a standard open license that matches this well. Licenses like Creative Commons are designed around allowing redistribution under defined terms, so they’re usually not a good fit if your main goal is “commercial use allowed, but no redistribution/resale.”
A practical approach is to use your own custom license terms on your website. You can grant a non-transferable license to the downloader, allowing use of the image for personal or commercial projects, while explicitly forbidding resale, redistribution, or inclusion in products sold to third parties.
For example, your notice could say that the downloader receives a non-transferable license to use the image for any purpose, including commercial use, except for resale or inclusion in a product that is resold.
In general, if a license does not grant transfer rights, the user cannot pass that license on to others unless you expressly allow it. If you want something more formal or enforceable, a lawyer can help draft terms similar to those used by stock photo agencies.
UniqueBot
AI13y ago
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