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About this tool
Answer six questions about an image and get a plain-language checklist of the copyright, licence, model release and trademark clearances your use needs.
The Image Usage Rights Explainer turns six questions about a picture — where it came from, what you plan to do with it, who and what is in the frame, and whether you will edit it — into an ordered checklist of the permissions that use actually needs. It separates the four rights that get confused with each other: copyright in the photograph, the terms of whatever licence you hold, the personality rights of anyone recognisable, and trademark rights in any visible brand. It is written for marketers, designers, publishers and small business owners who have to decide today whether an image is safe to publish. It is informational only and is not legal advice.
Open Image Usage Rights Explainer on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Answer Where did the image come from? — from Royalty-free stock licence or Creative Commons BY or BY-SA through to Found online with no licence — and What will you use it for?, from Editorial to Merchandise or print on demand for resale.
Set Who appears in it? and What else is in the frame?, then tick 'I will crop, edit or composite the image' and 'I hold written permission from the rights holder' where they apply.
Read the Verdict — Not permitted as described, Permitted once you clear the conditions, or No blockers found for this use — with its Blockers and Must clear in writing counts, then press Copy result to take the Clearance checklist as plain text.
Copyright, licence scope, personality rights and trademark are assessed independently, because clearing one does not clear the others.
Blockers appear first, then things you must clear in writing, then things worth doing — so you know what stops publication today.
The whole checklist copies out as plain text you can paste into a brief, a ticket or an email to a lawyer.
For commercial use, yes, if anyone is recognisable. Owning the copyright in a photograph gives you rights over the image; it gives you nothing over the person in it. Using someone's likeness to promote a product or brand engages their personality and publicity rights, which are a separate body of law. Genuine editorial and news use generally does not need a release.
Not automatically. Public domain means the copyright has expired or been waived, so there is no copyright to clear — but personality rights, privacy and trademark are untouched by that. A public domain photograph of a recognisable person still needs a release for an advertisement, and a visible logo in the frame is still a trademark.
Royalty-free means you pay once and can use the image many times within broad limits — but those limits normally exclude items where the image is the product, such as prints, phone cases and templates, which need an extended licence. Rights-managed licences the image for a named use, medium, territory and time period, and anything outside that grant requires a new licence.
In India, yes for architecture and for sculptures permanently situated in a public place — sections 52(1)(s) and 52(1)(t) of the Copyright Act 1957 carve those out of infringement. Freedom of panorama is much narrower elsewhere, and countries such as France, Italy and Greece restrict commercial use of images of public works. Check both where the work stands and where you will publish.