Education
What you Need to Know About EyeEm Market Copyright Restrictions
By Marili Persson - 3 min read
Copyright and intellectual property law are the foundations of the photography industry and all other creative business. It enables everyone in our community to earn money by licensing their photos, and defending their intellectual property from unauthorized use. Learn how copyright applies to you and your work.
In simple terms, copyright for photographers means owning property. You own the image you’ve created, and it’s protected by copyright automatically from the moment it’s taken.
The ownership rights include reproducing, preparing, distributing and displaying the photograph publicly. Owning the copyright on your photography doesn’t require any special paperwork, or having the © associated with your images. The copyright will automatically apply once you post your photography online.
Where EyeEm Stands on Copyright
We believe that copyright empowers creativity. You must own or control the copyright to all content you submit to EyeEm. This means that you can’t upload photos that are obtained from other sources, such as online image search results or websites. Furthermore, images taken by you that are already granted exclusively to someone else, can’t be uploaded either.
How Copyright Applies to You as a Photographer
The word “copyright” is thrown around a lot on photography forums, but what does it really mean for you? You are in control of the copyright to your own photos. You may only upload images to your EyeEm profile, that you own the copyright for.
There are two kinds of licenses a buyer can purchase in order to use your photo: editorial and commercial, which grant the buyer usage rights. An editorial license can be purchased without a model release, since it limits the usage of the photo to editorial use only. Photo submissions intended for commercial licensing should not contain any copyrighted material, including artwork, other photos, sculptures, architecture or exhibits which are copyrighted.
Additionally, photo submissions may not contain service marks, trademarks, or other indication of origin, including logos, owned by third parties. These photos would be suitable for editorial licensing instead.
You always keep full control of your copyright and may request the deletion of a photo from EyeEm Market at any time. If you discover that someone is using your image without your permission, it’s best to take action as quickly as possible and contact Support.