LICENSING OF IMAGES

There are two types of art products available from ClaireImage: Paintings and Images. (An image may be derived from a painting or from a "virtual work"). This page is about how to acquire the right to reproduce images - licensing.

If you or your company are interested in using or reproducing an image in any way, licensing is easily available for such purposes. Thus, access to the images is available separately from the physical medium (if any) on which the image may reside, allowing for easy commercial utilization for a large number of purposes. These may include display on websites, use in advertising, or as corporate logos, and reproduction on cards, calendars, T-shirts, posters, etc.

Access to images can be exclusive, semi-exclusive, or non- exclusive; both exclusive and semi-exclusive access can be limited to a specified term. As well, access can be purchased for various image qualities, volume of use, and size. For instance, a high-tech manufacturer might want to use part or all of an android image as a company or product logo and prevent others from displaying the same. He could then acquire the long-term, exclusive, high-volume right to that image, of a "commercial" quality. On the other hand, a publisher of an art-quality calendar might want to print a fairly small number of copies of a set of flower images, but not be interested in exclusive access. A wide variety of such situations can be accommodated. Image license pricing depends on the type of access that is acquired.

Below, some details are presented on the cost of licensing, especially for printing; different situations, and types of access other than the ones mentioned above, can be negotiated - contact us via mail (see the address page) or by email.

Note that under all circumstances the "moral right" to the image will remain under the control of the artist, Claire Venne. This is to prevent use of the image for illegal purposes, or for purposes whose religious, political, or ethical nature is considered by the artist to be harmful to her and/or her reputation.

All prices are subject to change without notice.

Cost of Licensing

The cost of licensing of an image depends on the following four factors:
1) Degree of exclusion of use of the image
2) Quality of the image supplied
3) Size of the image to be reproduced
4) Number of times the image will be used

View or download a copy of the image use license contract

The approach to calculation of the cost is presented below, where each of the four factors is dealt with in some detail. A table of example costs is then presented.

1) Degree of exclusion of use of the image

As mentioned above, access to an image can be exclusive, semi-exclusive, or non-exclusive. Both exclusive and semi-exclusive access can be for a limited term of any duration, up to perpetuity. "Exclusive access" means that the image will not be available to any third party for commercial use during the term of the agreement. "Semi-exclusive access" means that the image will be available to third parties for commercial use, but only with the approval of the first party holding the semi-exclusive access right, such approval not be witheld unreasonably. "Non-exclusive access" means that access to the same image can be acquired by any number of parties.

For example, a manufacturer of robots might want to obtain exclusive access to the copyright of an android image, but only for a period of twenty years. This would then prevent the image from being used for any other commercial activity for that period. A distributor of aquariums might, on the other hand, only want semi-exclusive access to a fish image, but in perpetuity. This would mean that any other commercial use of that image would be subject to the approval of that distributor. This would prevent, for instance, any competitors from gaining access to the same image.

Other restrictions on access to images by third parties can also be negotiated.

2) Quality of the image to be supplied

Images can be supplied as "commercial quality" or "art quality". Commercial quality is sufficient for ordinary use of images in most printing and web applications. Images can be supplied in a wide variety of file types (e.g., Adobe PhotoShop, JPEG, BMP, etc.) and resolutions. Art quality is meant to satisfy the much more stringent needs of specialized printing, such as the production of books on the visual arts. In these instances images can be supplied as very high-resolution files, or original art work and/or photographic renditions can be made available.

3) Size of the image to be reproduced

If the image is to be used in printed material, the cost of access is based on the minimum linear dimension in the printed copy. For example if an image will be printed 23x45 mm on paper, the cost of access will be based on the 23 mm dimension. If an image is to be used in a virtual construct such as a web page, the cost of access will be based on the equivalent size of the image on a 17" display screen that is operated at a resolution of 1024x768 pixels. The cost of licensing is related to the utilization dimension of the image in a non-linear way. See the formula below for details.

4) Number of times the image will be used

As the volume of use of an image increases, the cost per use decreases. See the formula below for how the cost of access is influenced by the number of times the image is used. For printed material the "number of times the image is used" is equal to the number of copies printed. For virtual constructs like web pages an equivalent number will have to be arrived at via negotiation.

View or download a copy of the image use license contract

The formula

This formula is an expression of the "intuitive logic" most people use to arrive at relative pricing. It is for the case when the image quality is "commercial" and access is non-exclusive. In such instances we will normally supply JPEG or Adobe PhotoShop files of the images. Pricing for other types of access will be arrived at via negotiation.

C = 0.02 * [ 0.1 + 0.9 * { ( size / 150 ) ^ 1.8 } ] * [ 0.04 + 0.96 * { 10000 / ( copies + 1000 ) } ]

where:
C = the cost for each time the image is used ($)
size = the minimum linear dimension of the image, as descibed above (mm)
copies = number of times the image is used, as described above

Table of example prices

In the table below costs are calculated for a variety of situations in which an image might be used. The image base price is $400, the quality is "commercial", and access is non-exclusive.

View or download a copy of the image use license contract

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