What Farmers Should Know About Licensing Photos
Have you ever found a good photo of cows, crops, or a tractor on the internet and wanted to use it on your Farm website, social media, or email? Chances are that photo was the property of an artist, and without proper licensing, you could run into some legal issues if you choose to download and use it to promote your Farm business.
It’s easy to think everything on the internet is fair game. However, this is far from the truth. While a Google Image search will provide plenty of images (and recipes), they are NOT free to use. Often, many artists make explicit reservations about using photos for any commercial purpose (e.g., helping to sell your Farm products). You’ll need to properly license the photos (or recipe) to use for your own needs. (Hence, it is best to use your pictures or recipes instead of one from an internet search!)
So, how can you legally use a photo you found online? Most likely, you will need to pay money to license the photo.
When you pay to license a photo, you are often allowed to use the image in a specific way. Several rights can be included in the license, like how long you can use the photo, what purpose the picture is used for, who can use the image, where you can use it, etc. Each license is different depending on the person or the company.
What Kind of License do Farmers Need
There are two licenses, though one is more applicable to Farmers:
Commercial License: This is the license most Farmers will need if they want to use the image to promote their business. These images are for “commercial use,” meaning they can be used for financial gain (like a product listing on your storefront).
Non-Commercial License: This license is for images used for personal use, education, events, or topics of general interest to the public. It’s NOT available for commercial use and a license Farmers cannot use to promote their business.
A license is typically exclusive or non-exclusive. For example, stock photos can be used by multiple Farms and businesses. Therefore you will have non-exclusive rights to those images. As many individuals and companies can access the picture, it’s non-exclusive. If you are the only person with the right to use the photos, then it’s exclusive. Usually, you’ll gain exclusive rights if you hire a photographer to come to your Farm to take pictures.
Remember, no matter where you come in contact with the image – either through a Stock Photo Website or Photographer’s Portfolio, each photo will have a license that may encompass different rules for how the images can be used. There is no single “boilerplate” license for photos utilized by all artists. To avoid legal issues, it’s best to review the rights of each creator before downloading and using an image. Most licensed photos cannot be redistributed, used as a trademark or a logo, or claimed as your own photo. Additionally, many websites will ask you to purchase the rights in some way.
When Farmers sign up with Barn2Door, we provide licensed, non-exclusive photo rights for Farmers to use for their website and product listings. We also offer a Marketing Toolkit that is published monthly, including seasonable images, content, and graphics produced by the Barn2Door Team. For $29/month, any Farmer with a Barn2Door Subscription can use the images and graphics provided by the Toolkit, provided you maintain your Barn2Door Account.
Why Farms Need to License Photos
Running into legal issues is no joke. When you use a photo or recipe without obtaining the proper license, you’re infringing on the artist’s copyright. This is not something you can get away with, and you are likely to be caught. Several law firms focus their entire practice on enforcing and collecting fees for copyright infringement of unauthorized use of photos.
If the copyright holder notices you used their work, they’ll often send a demand letter (requesting payment for unauthorized use), a cease and desist request (demanding you take the photo or recipe down immediately), and you can also receive a hefty fine with a tight payment deadline (typically just weeks). In addition, the image owner can take you to federal court if you fail to respond and pay the fees. While it is possible to negotiate for a lower settlement, it’s best to avoid the situation altogether and properly license a photo or a recipe.
Spending a few bucks is worth more than running the risk of spending tens of thousands of dollars on lawyers, penalties, and unwanted stress. Properly licensing photos or recipes guarantees that your Farm can use the property for commercial use to promote your business. With the correct documents in place, you won’t risk infringing on anyone’s rights.
Barn2Door provides an all-in-one solution to grow and manage your Farm business. If you’re curious to learn why successful Farms run on Barn2Door, watch this 5-minute video.