Adobe Stock Contributor
Legal terminology and copyright
Last updated on May 16, 2021 09:55:19 AM GMT
There are a few legal terms that appear frequently when we're discussing stock images and videos. Understanding them helps you save you time and effort.
Legal terminology and the importance of copyright
These are the areas of law that determine whether Adobe can license content:
Rights of privacy / right of publicity
Trademark / trade dress
Below is a breakdown of what each one entails.
Right of privacy and right of publicity
Right of privacy means exactly what it says: It's a person's right to be left alone. This is a fundamental right in countries around the world, although the laws protecting it may differ. Similarly, the right of publicity ensures that a person has the right to control the commercial use of their name and likeness.
In licensing stock, right of privacy and right of publicity mean that you must have permission in the form of a signed model release for any recognizable person. Where applicable, you also need a signed property release from the owner of private property appearing in your content. When in doubt, obtain a model or property release that allows for the commercial use of an identifiable person, place, or object appearing in your content. For more information, see model release and property release requirements.
Trademarks and trade dress
A trademark is a set of words, a logo, or a symbol that can identify a company, brand, or products and services. Trade dress is a type of trademark that generally refers to the appearance or design of the packaging or the product itself.
Trade dress can include a distinctive shape or color. For example, the word "UPS," the slogans "What can brown do for you?" and "United Problem Solvers," the UPS Shield logo, and the specific brown color of its delivery uniforms and trucks are all trademarks of United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS).
We cannot accept submissions that depict trademark or trade dress, so make sure to completely "scrub" or remove any trademarked symbols or objects. Partial removal of a trademark or logo is not an acceptable substitute for the full removal of trademarks or logos from content you submit. For more examples of common subjects protected by trademark or other intellectual property, refer to Known image restrictions.
Copyright protects anything that's considered an expression of an idea on tangible media, such as a poem, architectural design, photograph, video, or painting. Signatories of the Berne Convention, which consists of more than 100 countries, are all committed to protecting copyright in a similar fashion.
An owner of a copyrighted work has the exclusive rights to distribute, reproduce, publicly perform, and modify that work. The owner can also grant some or all these rights to customers.
By submitting content to Adobe Stock, you are promising us that you own or have a license to the copyright in the content itself. You license your content to Adobe based on an upload agreement or a content license agreement, such as the Adobe Stock Contributor Agreement. We then license the content to clients via our Terms of Use or specific download/enterprise license agreements. For more information, see Use of your content.
When we moderate images and videos, we're mindful of whether the submitted content is a copy of someone else's, although there's no formal agreement on how close an image can be to existing copyrighted work. If you believe that any contributor content infringes on your copyright, send us an intellectual property infringement claim. For more information, see Use of your content.
Adobe Stock does not currently accept submissions of public domain content.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice or a substitute for counsel. Also, it may or may not be a complete understanding of all applicable IP rights in your content, depending on the context. Consult your legal counsel on specific legal questions.
View all your plans Manage your plans
< See all apps
Post questions and get answers from experts.
Real help from real people.