Image licence agreement (stock photo) template
A photographer or picture owner licenses images for set uses, media, territory and term, with credit and releases. A sample contract you can read in full, edit in QuoteBill and sign online with a secure link.
Sample — review with a lawyer · Simple electronic signature with an audit trail
Who it is for
For a photographer, illustrator or picture library that licenses images to a business, and for a business that wants its right to use a picture in writing, with uses, media, territory and term.
Rules on image rights, on pictures of people and private property, and on what a licence may cover differ by country; where a person is shown, check that a release exists.
What it covers
14 clauses, in this order. Each one is in the sample text below, and you can edit, remove or add clauses before you send.
1. Purpose
What the agreement is for: the Licensor lets the Licensee use the images below for the uses, media, territory and term stated in it.
2. The Images
A blank lists the images by title or ID, file name and size. Only the files delivered under the agreement are covered, not other images by the Licensor.
3. Grant of licence
Blanks for exclusive or non-exclusive, uses, media, territory, term and size or reach, such as a print run. A non-transferable licence for the Licensee’s own projects; any other use needs a new licence.
4. Uses not allowed
No resale or passing on as stock images or downloads, no use as a trade mark or logo, no unlawful, obscene or false or demeaning use of a person, no suggested endorsement. A blank decides on machine-learning use.
5. Editing
Cropping, resizing, colour changes and combining with other material are allowed for the permitted uses. No change that misrepresents the people, places or events shown, and no suggestion that the Licensor edited the image.
6. People, property and releases
The Licensor says which images show people, property or brands and whether releases exist, with choices in a blank. Without a release, editorial use only and no promotion of products; known limits in a release are followed.
7. Credit
The Licensee credits the Licensor with the wording in a blank, in the customary place and way, and corrects a missing credit as soon as it learns of it.
8. Fee and payment
The fee comes from the price schedule or a blank (a fee or no fee). The licence starts when the fee is paid in full. Fees for later extensions are agreed before the further use starts.
9. Ownership
Copyright and all other rights in the images stay with the Licensor or the photographer. The Licensee gets only the licence; works it makes with the images are its own, but the images’ rights stay as described.
10. Delivery and care of files
The Licensor delivers digital files by a method in a blank within a set number of days. The Licensee keeps them safe, does not offer them for download and shares them only with staff and contractors working on the use.
11. Warranties and liability
The Licensor says it holds the rights, including the photographer’s and any releases it named, and knows of no infringement. The Licensee answers for how it uses the images. Liability is capped by a blank, with the legal exceptions.
12. Term and termination
The licence lasts for the term in the grant. A serious breach not put right in time allows termination. Afterwards new uses stop and online uses are removed within a set number of days; printed stock may be used up.
13. Further uses and extensions
For more use than the licence covers, or longer, the Licensee asks first and the Licensor answers within a set number of business days. A further use counts only once agreed in writing or electronic form with any extra fee.
14. Governing law and disputes
The law you name applies. The sides first try to settle a dispute in good faith, and otherwise the courts you name decide.
A price schedule is optional: add one if you want the amounts in a table, or write the agreed amount into the payment clause.
The sample text
The whole sample, as QuoteBill starts it. Text in double square brackets, like [[10]], is a blank to fill in or check. A figure or time such as [[10]] that you leave as it is is used as shown when you send; a blank that needs your own words must be filled first. The clause text is written in English, Korean, Japanese and German; in other languages a contract starts in English for you to translate.
Read the sample text
Image Licence Agreement
Parties: Licensor · Licensee
1. Purpose
This agreement sets out the terms on which the Licensor allows the Licensee to use the images described below, for the uses, media, territory and term stated in it.
2. The Images
The licensed images are the following (the “Images”):
[[List the images: titles or IDs, file names and, where useful, the size or resolution supplied]]
The Images are the files that the Licensor delivers under this agreement. Other images by the Licensor are not covered.
3. Grant of licence
The Licensor grants the Licensee a [[non-exclusive / exclusive]], non-transferable licence to use the Images within these limits:
Uses: [[Uses, e.g. a company website, social media posts and a printed brochure]]
Media: [[Media, e.g. online, print, presentation]]
Territory: [[Territory, e.g. worldwide]]
Term: [[Term, e.g. 5 years from the date of this agreement / without a time limit]]
Size and reach: [[Limits on size, print run or audience, e.g. up to 10,000 printed copies / no limit]]
The licence covers the Licensee’s own projects only. A use outside these limits needs a new licence.
4. Uses not allowed
The Licensee does not sell, license or pass on the Images as images, for example as stock images, templates or downloads, and does not use an Image as, or as the main part of, a trade mark, logo or domain name. The Licensee does not use the Images in a way that is unlawful, defamatory or obscene, that shows a person in an Image in a false or demeaning light, or that suggests that the person endorses a product or a cause.
Use of the Images to train or test machine-learning models: [[not allowed / allowed as follows]]
5. Editing
The Licensee may crop, resize and adjust the colour of the Images and combine them with other material to suit the permitted uses. It does not change an Image in a way that misrepresents the people, places or events shown, and it does not present an edited Image in a way that suggests the Licensor made the edit.
6. People, property and releases
The Licensor states which Images show recognisable people, private property, artworks or brands, and whether it holds releases for them: [[all Images with people have releases for the uses licensed / releases exist only for the Images marked in the list / there are no releases, so editorial use only]].
Where an Image has no release, the Licensee uses it only for editorial or other uses that the law that applies allows without one, and not to promote a product or service. The Licensee keeps to any limit that a release places on the use of an Image and that the Licensor has told it about.
7. Credit
The Licensee credits the Licensor as [[the credit wording, e.g. “Photo: name of the photographer” / no credit required]] in the place and in the way that is customary for the use. If a credit is missing, the Licensee puts this right as soon as it learns of it.
8. Fee and payment
The Licensee pays the licence fee shown in the price schedule of this contract or, if there is none, [[the agreed licence fee or “no fee”]], on the payment terms stated in this contract. The licence starts when the fee has been paid in full or, if there is no fee, on the effective date. Fees for later extensions are agreed before the further use begins.
9. Ownership
The copyright and all other rights in the Images remain with the Licensor or the photographer. The Licensee acquires only the licence that this agreement grants. Works that the Licensee makes using the Images belong to the Licensee, but the rights in the Images themselves stay as described in this agreement.
10. Delivery and care of files
The Licensor delivers the Images as digital files by [[download link / e-mail]] within [[3]] days of the date of this agreement or, where a fee is due, of its payment. The Licensee keeps the files safe, does not make them available for others to download, and passes them only to its own staff and contractors who work on the licensed use, who must follow this agreement and for whom the Licensee is responsible.
11. Warranties and liability
The Licensor states that it holds the rights needed to license the Images, including the photographer’s rights and the releases it has said it holds, and that, to its knowledge, the Images do not infringe the rights of others. The Licensee is responsible for how it uses the Images and for any consent that its own use needs beyond what the Licensor has stated.
Except for intent, gross negligence, personal injury, a breach of the statement on rights or where the law does not allow a limitation, each party’s total liability under this agreement is limited to [[the licence fee paid or payable / a fixed amount]].
12. Term and termination
The licence lasts for the term stated under Grant of licence. Either party may terminate it by notice in writing or in electronic form if the other party seriously breaches this agreement and does not put this right within [[14]] days of being asked to.
When the licence ends, the Licensee stops new uses of the Images and removes them from its websites and social media within [[30]] days. Printed material that has already been produced and distributed need not be recalled, and printed stock may be used up for [[90]] days after the end.
13. Further uses and extensions
If the Licensee wants to use the Images beyond the limits of the licence, or for longer, it asks the Licensor first. The Licensor answers within [[10]] business days. A further use is covered only once the parties have agreed it, together with any extra fee, in writing or in electronic form.
14. Governing law and disputes
This agreement is governed by the law stated under Governing law. The parties will first try to settle any dispute in good faith. Otherwise the courts stated under Jurisdiction decide, unless mandatory law provides otherwise.
Payment terms
[[When and how the licence fee is paid, if any, e.g. within 14 days of receiving the invoice, by bank transfer]]
Governing law
[[Country or state whose law applies]]
Jurisdiction
[[Courts that decide disputes, e.g. the courts of your city]]
How to use it
Choose the template
Press the button to use this template. If you are not signed in, you first sign in or sign up for free and then come straight back to it.
Start a draft
The new-contract page opens with this template marked. Press its card to create a draft. Your company details fill in Party A, and you fill in the blanks, the other party and, where the template has one, the price schedule.
Send it for signature
You sign first, then send each signer a secure link and, by another route, an access code. Signers need no account.
Next steps
Your client opens the link on any device and needs no account. See what the signing looks like on the E-Contracts page, and read which kind of electronic signature is enough for which document.
Already signed? Make the invoice from the signed contract: the parties and the price lines carry over, in full or for a deposit. The guide on turning a quotation into an invoice shows how to review the new draft, its dates and the PDF.
What it is, and what it is not
QuoteBill creates a simple electronic signature with an audit trail. In the EU, the UK, the US and Korea a signature is not denied legal effect only because it is electronic, and in Japan most contracts need no particular form at all. What a simple electronic signature proves in a dispute depends on the evidence behind it, and some documents need another form.
It is not a qualified or advanced electronic signature, and QuoteBill does not verify who the signers are. It records the use of the link and access code you delivered, so anyone who has both can sign. The signature certificate lists every link issued and, for each action by the sender or a signer, its IP address and browser where they could be read.
Some documents need another form. Wills, many real-estate transfers, guarantees and some employment documents must, in some countries, be handwritten, notarised or signed with a qualified signature. The templates are samples, not legal advice: review them with a lawyer.
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