GLOSSARY:

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED IN LICENSING PHOTOGRAPHY

I’ve assembled a small glossary of terms I think are most relevant to the contracts I use. These definitions come from UsePLUS.com.

 

A

Advertising
Definition:
The activity of attracting public attention to a product, idea or business using announcements in print, broadcast, or electronic media.

Additional info:
In most cases, advertising is clearly different from editorial content and is paid for by an advertiser, who controls its appearance and content. This distinguishes it from public relations content, which can be edited by a media outlet and is inserted without payment.

Advertorial
Definition:
Paid advertising or public relations created and designed (often by the staff of a magazine or other media in which it appears) to resemble editorial material.

Additional info:
The publication reproducing the advertorial typically receives an insertion fee or enters a barter arrangement and receives in-kind goods or services. The publication may also offer advertorial insertions as incentives to advertisers who purchase a certain amount of advertising. By law in some countries, an advertorial page must be marked advertisement.

B

Broadcast Email
Definition:
Email distribution of a large quantity of messages containing promotion, marketing or advertising.

Additional info:
May link to a web page. The use of broadcast email may be restricted by legislation, such as that requiring an existing business relationship with the recipient.

C

Cancellation fee
Definition:
A sum agreed to be paid when a procuring party cancels the services of the providing party.

Additional info:
Typically applicable when there is a short period before the production or due date, in order to offset costs and inconvenience to the seller. Cancellation fees typically are not refundable. 

Catalog
Definition:
An electronic or online listing of products or services, a similar listing of digital assets (such as image files), or the act of creating or adding to such listings.

Additional info:
Descriptive text and images usually accompany entries in a catalog.

Collateral
Definition:

Printed marketing and advertising pieces for use in direct request and personal contact, not in publications.

Additional info:
Often reflects a larger broadcast, print or direct mail campaign. May include leaflets, brochures, pamphlets and business cards, among many other possible uses. However, collateral is often misunderstood to comprise an even longer list of uses. Listing individual uses may be more practical for most licensing situations.

Commercial
Definition:
A descriptor for image uses that are part of sales or marketing efforts.

Copyright
Definition:
A legal property right in an original work of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, such as photographs, illustrations, architectural works, literary works, musical scores and recordings, and motion pictures.

Additional info:
Copyright is more than the right to copy, it is a divisible bundle of exclusive rights. The owner of copyright in a work holds the exclusive right to reproduce, publicly display, adapt, distribute and/or publicly perform the work, and to authorize others to do the same.

Creative fee
Definition:
A charge by a creator for his or her efforts to complete a project, which is not based on time alone.

Additional info:
Factors may include compensation for trade experience and special capabilities, or for any creative effort, contribution or process required to complete a project. Typically, does not include a license or usage fee.

D

E

Editorial
Definition:
Describes work in a periodical, online, on electronic media, presentation and/or broadcast that is educational or journalistic in nature, and which does not promote a product, person, service or company based on sponsorship.

Editorial use
Definition:
A use whose purpose is to educate and/or convey news, information or fair comment opinion, and which does not seek or accept sponsorship to promote a product, person, service or company.

Exclusive rights
Definition:
A privilege that, when granted by a licensor to a licensee, limits the right of the licensor (and other parties offering licenses of the work) to license rights in a work to a third party.

Additional info:
An exclusive right may be broad or specific. The rights grant may provide the licensee with exclusive rights to use a work singly or in any combination of: a specified media, industry, territory, language, time period, product and any other specific right negotiated by the licensor and licensee.

F

G

H

Home Page
Definition:
Refers to the first or opening page of a multipage web site.

I

Insertion
Definition:
A single instance of a work (including advertising, text, image, video etc.) appearing in any kind of commercial media.

Additional info:
This term describes how many times an advertisement or other work appears. Each use in each issue of a named publication or other medium is a separate insertion. 

J

K

L

License
Definition:
A legal agreement granting permission to exercise a specified right or rights to a work, often encompassed in an invoice, or the act of granting same.

License fee
Definition:
The price charged by a licensor to a licensee in exchange for a grant of rights permitting the use of one or more images in a manner prescribed in a license.

Additional info:
A variety of factors, such as circulation, the size of reproduction and specific image qualities affect the determination of a particular license fee. 

M

Marketing
Definition:
The direct application of advertising and public relations in order to promote and sell products to the buying public.

N

Non-exclusive use
Definition:
A right to use, granted by a licensor to a licensee, it does not preclude the licensor from transferring to other licensees the same permission within the same scope. The ability to issue this is covered under copyright and trademark law.

O

P

Personal use
Definition:
Only for private purposes and not related to business or commerce. No reproduction rights granted.

Portfolio
Definition:
Collected materials (digital or print) that are representative of an artist’s work.

Press release
Definition:
Information sent to the press to promote a product, event or person. Typically one or two pages of text, often accompanied by images.

Additional info:
Sometimes supplied as digital text and image files on a CD-ROM disc, or downloadable from a web site.

Promotional use
Definition:
Use of a work in the context of any type or kind of promotion. This term is overly broad and ambiguous and should not be used in licenses or contracts.

Publicity use
Definition:
Use of a work in a press release, media kit, other public relations piece distributed for gratis editorial insertion in publications. Excludes use in advertising, advertorials and other media involving paid or bartered insertions.

Q

R

Re-license
Definition:
The renewal of a legal written agreement granting permission to exercise a specified right or rights to a work, often encompassed in an invoice, or the act of granting same.

Re-use
Definition:
Subsequent utilization of a work by the same publisher in the same or related publication, advertising or marketing venue.

Additional info:
Some licensors grant a small discount for re-use, though this is not necessarily an industry-wide practice. Some clients expect a discount.

Renewal rights
Definition:
Permission to renew an existing license for use of a creative work. May or may not be included in the original license agreement.

Reprint
Definition:
A reproduction substantially resembling a previous reproduction. Or, the act of creating reproduction(s) substantially resembling previous reproduction(s).

Additional info:
Characteristics, quantity, distribution, timing, and other factors are often subject to the specifications of a license granting use of any incorporated images.

Retail
Definition:
The sale of goods or services directly to consumers.
Typically all sales made in department stores or supermarkets are retail sales.

S

Sublicense
Definition:
A contract or agreement allowing a party who does not own rights to a product or service to produce and/or market that product or service.

T

Third-party use
Definition:
Any one individual, company, or organization other than the individuals, companies or organizations involved in the original agreement.

U

Usage
Definition:
When a copyrighted work is licensed, the terms of the license that specify the type of media, size of reproduction, duration, and locations in which the work will appear, along with other parameters.

Additional info:
Other parameters include but are not limited to: licensee, licensor, media, quantity, size, placement, industries, regions, languages, restrictions, exclusivity, and duration.

Example of the term in use:
“We license images for various types of usage.”

V

W

X

Y

Z

 

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