Copyright and Licensing
Copyright and Licensing is very important to any creative business involving visual media. In fact, the protection of these rights can play a part in how much you pay for certain services. Permission to use our intellectual property is granted via a license. Licensing is one of the core concepts of any true photography business. The value of that license is dictated by the end use of the media. For example, photos licensed to a business for use in a national advertisement will grant longer term use than photos licensed to a realtor to market a property. Consequently, the value of the license is higher for the business to use the photos.
Copyright
Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works. This includes most services provided by Gate Images, such as photographs and video. Our work is protected, the moment a photo or video is taken with our cameras.
Please understand that as you operate your business, copyright is not just limited to the media you purchase from Gate Images. Copyright law protects many things, including media you may get from others such as headshots, or even the design of your brand logo. It is best practice to understand the terms of the media you are receiving because even if no terms are given, you do not own that media. Consider how scary it may be to find out you don’t own the logo for your own brand! Get the terms clear!
Throughout our photography process and the marketing efforts of any third party, the original works remain our intellectual property. Gate Images does not grant you permission to sell, distribute, or give our copyrighted works without our permission. We reserve the right to use the photos as we wish for reasons including our own marketing efforts, relicensing, sales, or other distribution. In summary, if you wish to learn more about copyright law, please click here.
We do respect homeowners privacy, and will not use for marketing, distribute, or relicense any photos containing valuables, sensitive information, or any other property that invades privacy or can be deemed sensitive. Examples include photographs or video including safes, jewelry or other valuables, family photos or portraits, medicine, weapons, etc.
Additionally, if you do decide to purchase a license for a particular photo for brand marketing, you can in fact, request that we alter the photo to change or remove private or sensitive objects.
Licensing
When you purchase Gate Images photos, we are granting you a license for rights to use the images for your specific marketing needs. During any review of our rates, you will notice a difference depending on the use of the photos. For example, a Realtor will need to use our photos anywhere from a couple weeks, to maybe a year, rarely more. Meanwhile, an AirBnb can potentially use our photos for the next 10 years. A national campaign for a business advertisement may run over the next few months, while being disseminated to 100,000 plus people in a publication, where a small boutique may use our photos for their website of 100 visitors a day. With that said, these different scenarios result in different licensing rates, and these rates are baked into your costs, Therefore, we offer five different types of licenses to standardize the costs.
License types
- Short-term License (For Realtors)
- Limited License
- Premium Limited License (standard for vacation rental properties, AirBnb, etc.)
- Exclusive license (standard for commercial businesses)
- Full Copyright Transfer
- Relicense
Best for: Realtors marketing an active listing. Standard for Real Estate Agents.
This license allows you to use the photos and video only while you actively represent the property for sale.
Includes:
MLS and MLS-syndicated platforms
Agent and brokerage websites
Property flyers and digital marketing
Email marketing related to the listing
Social media posts for For Sale, Under Contract, and Sold
One-time “Just Sold” social media use by the buyer’s agent
Does not include:
Use after the listing ends
Airbnb or short-term rentals
Paid advertising or long-term brand marketing
Use by homeowners, builders, contractors, or vendors
Redistribution or reuse for other properties
Best for: Longer-term marketing and editorial use beyond the active listing
This license allows broader marketing use for up to two (2) years, while Gate Images retains copyright.
Includes:
Websites and organic digital use (no view limits)
Print publications (up to 250,000 copies per year)
Video and presentation use
Brand and promotional marketing related to the property or client
Does not include:
Airbnb or short-term rental use
Paid digital advertising (unless approved)
Redistribution or sublicensing
Use after the 2-year term
Best for: Clients who want to be the only user of the images. Standard for commercial businesses.
This license grants exclusive use for ten (10) years, meaning Gate Images will not license the images to anyone else during the term.
Includes:
All Premium License uses
Sole-use exclusivity
Print use up to 500,000 copies per year
Airbnb and long-term brand marketing
Does not include:
Ownership of the images
Redistribution or resale
Unlimited print distribution
Best for: Clients who need complete ownership and control
This agreement transfers full copyright ownership to the client.
Includes:
Permanent ownership of the images
Unlimited use, modification, resale, and sublicensing
Use across all platforms, forever
Gate Images retains no rights to use the images without your permission.
Best for: Real Estate Agents, Builders, publications, developers, or other third parties that are not original purchasers of a license. Any original license that is not an Exclusive License or Full Copyright Transfer is eligible to be relicensed.
A standard Relicense allows a new party to use existing images under Limited License terms.
Includes:
Websites and organic digital use
Print use up to 250,000 copies per year
Video and promotional marketing
Up to 2 years of use
Does not include:
Airbnb or short-term rental use
Paid advertising
Redistribution or sublicensing
Ownership
What does all of this mean?
Realtors
Realtors make up most of the day-to-day clients we deal with at Gate Images. Therefore, we want to make sure you are clear about expectations when handling the media you receive from us.
- The media you receive from us, is owned by us. You are granted permission to use that media via a license.
- Zillow 3D Tours and Matterport 3D Tours are owned by those respective companies, as we use their proprietary technology to create them. There is a yearly fee to keep a Matterport 3D Tour active. The first year is included in your rate.
- We do not mind homeowners having a copy of the photos for keepsake, but they should not cancel the sale with you, and use the photos to market their property for rent, or redistribute in any manner.
- Scammers are known for stealing photos to advertise fraudulent listings. Keeping our policies in mind, helps greatly in fighting against these efforts, keeps our costs lower, and prevents us from having the need to watermark our media.
short-term rentals, interior designers, commercial businesses, etc.
All other types of projects excluding real estate listings, receive our High-End Package by standard. This maximizes the potential of your marketing, and the appropriate license cost is baked in to your rate. Other things to note:
- The media you receive from us, is owned by us. You are granted permission to use that media via a license, unless you purchase a Full Copyright Transfer.
- Matterport 3D Tours are owned by Matterport, as we use their proprietary technology to create them. There is a yearly fee to keep a Matterport 3D Tour active. The first year is included in your rate.
- If the case use or needs for the photos changes, please contact us!