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Behind the scenes here at 64����we have a dedicated Infringements Team protecting contributor photographs from copyright theft and infringements. An infringement is where someone has used an image without a licence, or where the licence in place doesn’t cover the way the image has been used.

Images marked as being ‘exclusive’ to 64����have increased protection from our Infringements Team and can be a source of additional revenue for contributors.

We share below an overview of our Infringements process, the benefits of being exclusive to Alamy, when you should (and shouldn’t) mark your images as exclusive, and how you can update the exclusive status on images in your account.

How does the Infringements process work?

There are two ways in which we find infringements of exclusive images:

• We work with the following Copyright Protection Agencies: Pixray, PicRights, Copyright Agent and Visual Rights Group
• Contributors can fill out the ‘report an unauthorised use’ form if they have seen a potential infringement of their image(s)

Each month the Infringements Team send around 15k newly licensed images to our Copyright Protection Agencies. They then scan the web for uses against the licence in place and send back their findings – if they then can’t locate a licence for these uses, they’ll create an infringement case.

Around 250 cases are created every day whereby a monetary claim is made based on the licence that should have originally been sought. Our contributors are paid a portion of successful case wins, in line with their commission rate, after costs.

What are the benefits of having images exclusive to Alamy?

As a contributor, if some or all of your images are marked as exclusive with us, then they will be included in the search for infringements.

Since forming our Infringements Team in 2021, we have sent our agency partners around 1 million exclusive images where there has been either a sale or a download.

We’re proud to say that the work of our Infringements Team has meant that we’ve paid out almost £1 million in recouped commission to our contributors. This is summed up best by the feedback we’ve had from our contributors who have received infringement payouts which contribute to their earnings:

“Thank you very much for your efforts in your department. Keep up your great work!” JR

“Infringement payments contributed a very good amount to my 64����account last year and your efforts are appreciated by many I’m sure. Long may that continue.” PB

When can images be marked as being exclusive?

At 64����you don’t have to mark your images as being exclusive to us, as you can remain non-exclusive and still share your content to other stock photo sites.

But if you’re considering making your images exclusive to 64����to take advantage of the increased protection and revenue our Infringements Team offers, there are a few things to remember:

• You can choose individual images to mark as exclusive, the exclusive status doesn’t have to be applied to every image in your account
• You should always check with us first if you have found a possible infringement as we may already be pursuing the case for infringement.
• We work hard to establish strong relationships with our customers, so if you see a use of your image without a licence, please ask us to check for you before contacting the image user, as the licence may be forthcoming
• If your images have previously been available on other stock sites, but are no longer, then you can still mark them as exclusive
• Considerable investment goes into seeking infringements, so if you mark images as being exclusive (when they are not exclusive) and we have to open and then close a case, then we will have to pass on some of the costs to you which will be applied to your account as an Exclusivity Admin Fee

We want you to take advantage of being exclusive, but to avoid any infringement fees being applied to your account, we recommend you keep track of where you might have shared images elsewhere, either to another customer or by uploading it to another stock photo site.

You can still mark your image as being exclusive if you have it on your own personal website, but essentially an image cannot be marked as exclusive to 64����if:

• It’s available on another stock agency site
• It’s an exact reproduction (in all or part) of a work of art (this does not include having additional unique or incidental features in the image, for example a person standing in front of a painting. The general rule of thumb is that to be exclusive an artwork can’t take up any more than 1/3 of the image frame)
• It’s not protected by copyright
• It’s in the public domain
• Copyright ownership is unknown

How do I mark my images as being exclusive to Alamy?

You can mark your images as being exclusive to 64����by ticking the ‘exclusive to Alamy’ box in your 64����Image Manager –

This means your images will be included in the search for exclusive images being used without a licence, so we can be sure that those images were taken from Alamy. If we can’t prove the images were sourced from us, then we can’t pursue the case.

You should only mark your images as exclusive to 64����if they fit the criteria outlined above. If your images have been exclusive up to now, but you want to share your images with another platform, you should untick the ‘exclusive to Alamy’ box in AIM to reflect the changes, so that they no longer are included our searches for infringements.

Safeguarding content with exclusive status

If you would like to take advantage of the extra copyright protection our Infringements Team can provide with the potential benefits of extra revenue, and only if your images qualify as being exclusive as outlined above, you should mark them as being exclusive to Alamy.