What are copyright infringements?
This is where an image has been used without the correct payment (or no payment at all).
Who do we work with?
Alamy and PA Media (Alamy’s parent company) work with several copyright protection agencies who are mandated to manage copyright compliance on our behalf. We have also invested in a new internal team to work with these agencies and our contributors directly, who can send in sightings of their images that may not be licensed for us to investigate.
Why is it important?
We strive to protect the interests, intellectual property and livelihoods of the contributors that we work with.
We ensure that users of your images are covered by the correct license for the types of usage they require.
How are the fees calculated?
There are several factors that are taken into consideration when a settlement request or invoice is sent out:
- Existing contract terms if the potential infringement is related to an active Alamy customer account
- Alamy’s terms and conditions state that we will charge a minimum of five times the standard fee for any infringed use of an image
- The additional costs involved from using the proprietary software and services of the copyright protection agencies
- The additional legal remedies for income lost by the contributor
I’m a contributor, how do I get involved?
So far this year, we’ve already paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds of infringement revenue to our contributors, so if your images are marked as exclusive, then you’ve automatically been added to the scanning process with our partner infringement agencies.
If you have images that are not on any other stock agency, make sure you mark them as exclusive now! Let us know you’ve made the update to make sure your images can be added to the scanning process as quickly as possible.
Don’t forget if you do have images with other agencies, but have marked them as exclusive to Alamy, contractually you need to remove the “exclusive” annotation on Alamy. You should not mark an image as exclusive if: it is either an exact reproduction (in all or part) of a work of art; it is not protected by copyright; or it’s in the public domain or for which copyright ownership is unknown. Not only would this put you in breach of contract for not doing so, it could also cause an unfortunate situation of us chasing a legitimate user of one of your images that has been sourced from elsewhere.
It’s estimated that across the whole internet, 80% of online use could potentially not have a license, so the potential here to boost your income is unlimited. Many infringements are the result of legitimate uses being lifted and stolen, so the potential for finding infringements rises in line with the volume of legitimate sales you make.
If you spot a use of one of your images that you believe could be an infringement, we have a form in the dashboard you can submit for reporting an unauthorised use directly to the Infringements Team here.
You’ll be paid the amount Alamy receive as a settlement with your usual commission % deducted. These should be clearly marked in your account as “infringement revenue” licences.
Can I still have my images on my own website or POD store?
Absolutely, we just ask that your images aren’t on another stock agency in order for them to be marked as exclusive on Alamy and therefore included in our infringement sweeps.
The first question that we ask when the communication goes out to a potential infringer is “have you received this image direct from the photographer?”
How can I contact the Infringements Team?
We can be reached at infringements@alamy.com
