New Legal Protection Offered for iStockphoto Customers
Getty Images’ subsidiary company, iStockphoto, is offering new legal protection to curb consumer fears of copyright litigation.
IStockphoto sells usage rights for a large library of Web-based images. While the images have been cleared for use under a Creative Commons license, such usage licenses are often not formally inspected for legal stability. Some iStockphoto customers fear legal action if their purchased images turn out to be plagiarized or not properly licensed. In response to these consumer worries, iStockphoto is offering guaranteed legal protection of up to $10,000 for its customers.
This new legal protection comes standard with any iStockphoto purchase. Additionally, consumers can increase that coverage to a whopping $250,000 for 100 photo credits (the virtual currency of iStockphoto). Currently, credits range in price from about 95 cents to $1.50.
The increased $250,000 worth of protection is sure to quell any worries that shoppers have about the somewhat shaky Creative Commons rights offered by iStockphoto. Additionally, while curbing customer fears, the new legal protection is likely to earn iStockphoto and Getty Images extra income. While Creative Commons rights have little oversight and can be challenged in court, they rarely are; iStockphoto will most likely not have to fund very many legal battles under their new legal guarantee. Essentially, the guarantee and increased protection options are more for the consumer’s peace of mind than actual legal squabbles. However, if the rare legal issue does arise, rest assured the consumer will be covered under this policy.
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Although we thank you for picking up on our news–your understanding of what iStock does is very obviously lacking. We are not “selling” creative commons images–we are a royalty-free image agency.
Creative Commons images undergo no inspection, someone has just posted an image and said, “Yes, you can use this on a blog,” but maybe his or her model did not agree to be photographed, or there is a trademarked logo in the picture–ours are inspected–that is the whole point.
Best,
Kara
I apologize for the error regarding the specific types of image licenses your company provides. The data in this article is mostly synthesized from a larger article on the rights offered by iStockphoto and the new legal protections, and my source was clearly faulty.
However, I trust the main details about iStockphoto’s new legal protection is accurate. Essentially, your company rarely faces legal disputes over photographic licenses, yet enhanced legal protection is now offered for customers just in case an issue should ever arise.