Copyright is about who owns the images and, in the UK, is covered by the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988. Similar regulations apply in other countries, but my Terms & Conditions specify that UK Law shall apply in all circumstances.

Licensing is about giving permission for images to be used and is dealt with by by an agreement or Licence worked out between the copyright holder (in the UK that is the Photographer) and the client.

A licence can be designed to fit a client's needs. It will set out what type of uses in which the photographs can be used, under what circumstances, where in the world they can be used and the length of time this agreement between photographer and client lasts.

If the client finds they need to use the photographs in a way that is not covered by the licence or that they need to use them after the period of the licence has run out, all they need to do is contact the photographer to negotiate further use, which may be at an extra cost.

If a client needs more than this we can quite easily negotiate where they feel they need extended use and how it will affect the final fee, or the client can go with the default licence - which will cover the uses they have initially specified, and which usually covers a 1 year usage - and negotiate any extensions they may need at a later date.

For further information please check out these very good resources for more in depth explanations:

Copyright for Clients - A guide to Copyright, for the use of photography buyers, issued by the Association of Photographers

Copyright Action, an FAQ prepared by EPUK (Editorial Photographers UK) mainly for the use of photographers, but containing much of interest to buyers and clients

For the complete legislative statute The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 can be found here - thanks to Jenkins, one of the largest and most successful intellectual property practices in the United Kingdom.

Please Note - All images on this site are Copyright © James King-Holmes, and are only available with Rights-Managed Licences under the terms of the UK Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988. Any unlicenced use will be seen as a breach of Copyright and legal action against infringing persons and entities (including but not limited to web site owners, publishers and businesses) will be taken to enforce payment of a minimum fee of £250 for each unauthorised image use. Please see the Terms & Conditions page of the site for a full presentation of the position.