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Model and Property Releases
When uploading footage, audio, images or photographs that depict human faces or identifiable buildings you must acquire a signed release form.
What are Model And Property Releases?
A model release is a legal release signed by the subject of a photograph or video granting permission to use or publish the photograph or video in one form or another. You can read a full description of what a model release is at Wikipedia.
If you are including in your item the face or identifiable features of any person on video, photograph, or a traced illustration, you will need a signed model release from that person.
A property release is a legal release signed by the owner of property used in a photograph or video granting permission to use or publish the photograph or video in one form or another.
If you are including the depiction of recognizable private property on video on video, photograph, or a traced illustration, you will need a signed location release from the property owner.
Authors do not need one for public property, such as government buildings (although you may run into problems just from photographing/videoing them, for security reasons!). But for images of private property — and particularly of objects that are closely identified with specific people — photographers are urged to get a release.
Commercial vs Editorial Use
If the media is used in an advertisement or promotion it will need a release, but the Author can sell an image for “Editorial use” even if it doesn’t have a release. Since, at this point in time, Envato does not offer Editorial licenses, any image, likeness, or uploaded to the PhotoDune site containing an easily recognised person or prominent, trade-mark protected property must have attached to it the correct forms.
Commercial Use: Defined as any media to which money exchanges hands. Money could be paid for the subject of the photograph/footage/media or the media itself. Wholesale, retail, and professional uses of photography would fall under this definition. The commercial photographic world could include: Advertising photography: photographs made to illustrate and usually sell a service or product. These images are generally done with an advertising agency, design firm or with an in-house corporate design team.
Editorial Use: when an image is used in conjunction with, and to illustrate, a news related story or any non-commercial text demanding imagery. Examples include magazines, newspapers, features and books.
Sample Release Agreements
It is your responsibility to ensure you use the correct model and property release for your projects, and that they protect both yourself and models you work with or the owner of any private property used. However, we do have several standard release templates that you may choose to use, under the understanding that Envato can accept no responsibility for any liabilities you may incur.
Here is the Envato Marketplace property release:
- Adult Release (PDF) – This is the form most commonly referred to as a “model release”. The language of this release is intended for use by models over the age of 18
- Minor Release – Minor (PDF) -This variant of the model release contains language referring to the model (who is a minor) in the third-person, and required signature by a parent or other legal guardian of the model. A release which is not signed by a parent or guardian affords no legal protection to the publisher.
- Property Release (PDF) – If you are including the depiction of recognizable private property on video on video, photograph, or a traced illustration, you will need a signed location release from the property owner.
