eLearning Courses for resale need photo license
Jul 06, 2012
By
Matt Coates
Hello,
I know there are several conversation threads on the topic of photos but I hope this is a lttle different. The courses that I am making are soon going to be made available for resale. We have used iStockPhoto.com for many of our pictures. I've now found out that I need to extend the license on each one of my photos from iStock if I want to resell them. The license is 125 credits per picture!! With the volume of pictues I've used we're looking at 10's of thousands of dollars to relicense these photos. Does anyone know of a photo site or sites with a lower cost resale license? Or is this is standard? If you are producing courses for resale where do you get your pictures? Thanks!
9 Replies
Matt,
That sounds about right to me from the (limited) investigations that I have made into this.
This is one of the reasons that I never got into the "resale" game.
I suspect that if one were to go through some eLearning resale sites you would find copyright/licensing issues left right and centre.
Sorry!
Bruce
I suppose it depends on if you are selling the source or the published course. I would think the license would only need to be extended if you were selling the source.
Fair point Phil, I kind of knew that but was not thinking....
Matt - I think the best course of action is to contact them directly and talk to them. Better be safe than sorry with Licensing legals.
Bruce
Matt,
Check out the true subscription sites like Shutterstock. Their TOS tend to be slightly less restrictive and give you # of times the image can be used. These sites are typically in the $200-$300 a month range. All these sites use non-commercial language so you'll have to figure out what applies to your situation. I've always felt like you could read these types of conditions a couple of different ways.
If you find a particular artist or two you really like, you might consider contacting them directly. I've done that before (when I wanted to be on the safe side) and just purchased an extended license directly. Realize they don't get much of the fee for the extended license from the micro sites. (They get anywhere from 1/10th to probably half at the very most) They also don't sell very many extended licensees. (Nobody is really checking and unless an obvious violation comes up most would never know because their images are sold on multiple sites)
Point being the person who took the photograph can typically enter into whatever kind of individual agreement they want with you. People sort of assume you have to go through the photo websites to buy an extended license, but in most cases, their rights to sell are not exclusive and the creator maintains their own control.
Also, if you hunt around there's even a big difference between the cost of extended licensees on certain micro sites. BigStockPhoto would probably be around $100, Fotolia might even be around $75.
Finally if you visit video production style graphics sites they tend to not have "resell" restrictions on collections because almost all finished video products are being resold/reused/produced for broadcast, etc. Photo collections exist, but even if you buy sample video clips, then you can export each frame as an individual image. (assuming that wasn't violating use restrictions)
Todd
I think the definition of resale is a little ambiguous on the iStock site - my interpretation is that you only need the extended license if you are:
a) selling products in which the image/images are the primary focus - i.e., a calendar, a tee-shirt or a template
b) selling a product in which you are making the source images available for reuse.
c) selling in volumes that exceed those specified in the standard agreement.
The elearning courses seem like a grey area to me so, as Bruce suggested, you should contact iStock customer service and give them details of your specific projects because I have a feeling you might not need the extended license.
I did that a few months ago, and it all seemed OK when I spoke to them - i.e. buy them and use them to create work for my clients, byt then I am only selling to one person.
Talk to them and get it in writing would be the way to go.
Bruce
It would be nice if we could get them to clarify the licensing right on the site - there must be tons of elearning developers that use photos from iStock.
Agree with Nancy most extended license are when the image is the primary thing you are selling e.g. on a T-shirt or mug
Thanks everyone for the information and feedback. I was finally able to get a hold of someone at iStockPhotos and he said that as long at the pictures are not being downloaded onto the customer's computer, but rather are viewed at the company URL, the standard license applies. So I'm good to go. Thanks again everyone!!
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