What is licensing?
Licensing pertains to contractual permission to use a copyrighted image for the purpose of reproduction in some specific manner. Be it as part of advertising/promotions for yourself or your business; or for publishing greeting cards, art prints, giftware items or the like.
But why do I need to License an image that I want to use?
An artist, by law, owns copyright to their work upon creation of it. When a work of art is sold, the artist retains that copyright and may reproduce the image as they wish. Even published works of art found in such places as Leanin' Tree art cards are LICENSED to those publishers under strict contract and the artist still owns the copyright. Unless you specifically purchase reproduction rights to an image, it is neither implied or allowed that you reproduce the image in any form. An artist works hard at what they do, and as no other profession would be expected to give their hard work away for free, so must an artist also protect their countless hours and monetary investments.
But I bought an original painting (or a print). Can't I do with it what I please?
As stated above, an artist retains copyright on ALL artwork created by them. Even after the sale of the original work of art. So unless you are specifically asking to buy either the copyrights (would be expensive!) or limited production rights (licensing), you are only buying the painting for your own viewing pleasure. The same can be said for any prints or reproductions. An artist rarely gets their time and money invested in an original back out of the original's purchase price. We rely heavily on reproduction sales to make up for the countless hours spent on creating it. It is therefore understandable why buying copyrights to an image would be considerably more expensive than just the purchase price of the original work of art itself. Just ask Hallmark how much money they make from their artists sometime! ;-)
If I license an image to use for my gift product line, can someone else come along and use it to?
In a standard contract setup, you would be licensing an image for a specific use as agreed upon between the artist (me) and the licensee (you). There is a clause which prevents the artist from selling the same image to a competitor for the same or similar purpose for a set period of time, usually for the length of your contract as agreed upon. It is for this reason that artists must vigilantly prosecute violators of their copyrights, whether these violators were unwittingly producing the image or had knowingly stolen it. (Although any serious businessperson SHOULD know basic copyright laws if they hope to stay in business.) Artists must do this not only to protect their rights, but also the rights of their licensees. If you have licensed an image and you find it available elsewhere, you are in the right to order the offending party to cease and desist the infringements, and if possible, reimburse you or the artist for losses incurred. For more information on Copyright Law, you may search the web or look in your local library.
Okay, Okay, I understand....now how can I find out about licensing one of your artworks?
I would be most happy to show you around my gallery to see what is available for licensing purposes. If I don't have something available that you were looking for, I may also be commissioned to create something especially for your needs. You can fill in the application form linked below and I will get in touch with you to answer your questions and help you through the process of licensing the image you wish. :-) Ready? Let's go!
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