Getty Images Rights & Clearance

Obtain the rights to include famous people, landmarks, trademarks, and copyrights in your campaigns. Our Rights & Clearance team can quickly help you clear the rights you need for your commercial projects, giving you the space to tell your story on your terms. 

With a global team boasting over 30 years of experience clearing talent and intellectual property, we offer multilingual clearance services in all territories. Contact Us ›

Need iconic personalities or historic moments for your creative projects?

No need to worry about model or property releases holding you back. We've got you covered.

Securing clearances gives you access to a wider range of content, from our extensive archive to current events and entertainment coverage. Our team of experts review your projects to identify and negotiate with rights holders, obtain permissions and handle all contracts and payments. All our rights and clearance work is fully guaranteed, ensuring you can focus on your projects with peace of mind.

Create with confidence with our unmatched Image Guarantee^®

Not all images or video clips come with a model or property release, putting your preferred content out of reach. However, with our industry‑leading Image Guarantee^®, Getty Images offers protection against any model or property claims for its unreleased content. For a fee, we'll protect you if a claim arises, broadening your creative options and widening the imagery available for your commercial and promotional campaigns. 

See our work for yourself with our recent case studies

Amazon Prime Case Study

The Rights & Clearance team navigated the complex publicity rights and ensured a smooth licensing process. The end result was a masterful blend of historical imagery with a contemporary message of inclusivity.

Google Case Study

Using Getty Images' Rights & Clearance team, Australian ad agency Apparent was able to use the likeness of Melba Roy Mouton in a campaign for Google.

Email Diamant Case Study

The challenge was incorporating an iconic clip of Marilyn Monroe blowing a kiss to symbolize the brand's tooth-whitening prowess, however, this clip came without a model release. Our Rights & Clearance team provided an Image Guarantee™ to ensure the secure use of Monroe's image.

EECA Case Study

See how the EECA used Getty Images' Rights & Clearance team to clear content they needed for their campaign.

Lenovo Case Study

Reflecting on the message of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Lenovo wanted to offer a wide audience the possibility to be virtually present when Dr. King delivered his powerful speech in Washington D.C., thanks to Augmented Reality technology.

Moussy Case Study

Moussy wanted to utilize an unreleased photograph by the legendary Slim Aarons, exclusively available at Getty Images. Despite the image's initial licensing challenges, our Rights & Clearance team provided Moussy with an enhanced indemnity for all depicted elements.

Budweiser Case Study

To illustrate their Covid-19 efforts, Budweiser and David The Agency needed real-life, breaking news imagery, typically only available for editorial use.

L'Oréal Case Study

With a rich collection of archival footage, our Rights & Clearance team helped showcase women's evolution from traditional roles to influential activists and leaders.

Learn how Rights & Clearance can work for you

Can I use this image or video for my project?

Whether or not you need third‑party permissions to use an image or video in your project depends on how you plan to use it.

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Webinar: Intellectual Property Essentials and Rights & Clearance Solutions

A bite‑sized video overview of intellectual property topics and considerations when using imagery.

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Video: Demystifying Your Usage Rights

Better understand your usage rights and steer clear of costly complications.

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Take the next step in licensing Getty Images visuals

Content packages and licensing options explained

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Getty Images Rights & Clearance service offer?

Rights & Clearance is the multilayer process of identifying and securing intellectual property and publicity rights for use in projects, such as advertising, corporate videos, social media, TV & film productions.

One image/video might contain multiple rights holders that may need to be cleared—copyright, talent, music, speeches, trademarks, artwork, to name a few. Sorting out all the rights required, seeking the clearances you need—and when you need them—can be confusing, complex, and time‑consuming. The Rights & Clearance team can handle all of this for you.

Getty Images' Rights & Clearance service offers over 30 years of experience from a team of intellectual property experts, clearing talents, and rights holders for a wide variety of uses. We are a single source for all your licensing and rights clearance needs, leveraging our strong relationships with global rights holders to quickly secure the underlying rights needed for your projects.

Our Rights & Clearance services navigate through the complex clearance layers to provide an initial free assessment, negotiating the best deals with rights holders, and executing attorney‑approved contracts and payments, so you're free to focus on what's most important: being creative.

When clearance isn't possible, we may be able to offer our industry‑leading indemnification in the form of an Image Guarantee, which makes using unreleased content a secure option. All of our Rights & Clearance services are guaranteed to protect you from legal risk and give you peace of mind with the content you've chosen. Contact us to discuss possible solutions we can offer for your project.

Our initial assessment of your project is free, and we will always discuss potential costs before liaising with any third‑party rights‑holders on your behalf.

The image I want to use contains identifiable people, buildings, products, logos, or works of art. Should I be worried?

Not necessarily. If your project is editorial, you may not need a release (examples of editorial usages include articles in a newspaper or magazine; a book or textbook; a documentary film; a factual social post or television newscast).

But if your project is commercial (i.e., it promotes a good or service), it is advisable to obtain additional permissions.

Note: if the archival content you want to use contains people/properties that are not identified yet are clearly visible, we may be able to offer our unmatched indemnification in the form of an Image Guarantee, which makes using unreleased content a secure option. Contact us to discuss possible solutions we can offer for your project.

My intended use is commercial, and the image I want to use does not have a model or property release. What should I do?

Editorial content often features real people, in real locations, engaged in real activities and is not provided with model or property releases. Model and property releases ensure that people and owners of properties depicted in an image/video have given their permission for the image to be used for non‑editorial uses, such as commercials, social media posts, and brochures. If the context in which you are planning to use the image or clip is commercial or promotional, you may need a release depending on the content you have selected. Please contact us for help on obtaining additional permissions and releases or for more information.

Can I use Editorial content in a commercial project? (Advertisements, promotional and marketing campaigns, advertorials, product packaging, merchandise, etc.)

Content intended for editorial use is generally created to illustrate:

• News, sports, and entertainment events
• Documentary and travel
• Historical archival moments

Images and videos intended for editorial use don't have model or property releases, which generally means that they can't be used for commercial, promotional, advertorial, or endorsement purposes. However, with permission, you can license them for a commercial project. Note that depending on the context and scope of your project, you may need to secure additional releases. Our Rights & Clearance team can help you acquire the rights you need to use editorial content in your commercial project safely. Please contact us for more information.

Learn more about the images on this page and see photographer credits.