Rejection Reason #13

Aside from constantly honing your skills as a photographer, there is another separate but just as important aspect of stock photography you should always keep in mind: The purpose of stock photography is to help sell or promote a product, concept, or idea. When you take pictures that you intend to sell as stock, you absolutely must not include any distinguishing visual clues that relate to an already-existing brand, corporation, company, etc. If you do, this could constitute infringement and you will receive the following rejection reason:

Trademark. Contains potential trademark or copyright infringement–not editorial.

The obvious exception here is if you are submitting the image as editorial – but if this is the case, remember that the image should also be newsworthy. However, for the purposes of this article, we will keep the focus on commercial, rather than editorial, stock photography.

A trademark is a symbol intended to identify the origin of a good or service, such as the “swoosh” logo on any pair of Nike sneakers. If you photograph a pedestrian on the street (and remembered to bring a stack of model releases and a pen), you‘d better be certain that the Nike logo isn‘t prominent in your image.

The reason for this is simple: aside from the obvious potential legal/infringement issue, you take away from the marketability of your image. Suppose there is a clothing or sneaker company that is searching for a stock image for an ad – do you think they‘ll choose yours, with a recognizable brand already apparent in the image?

The good news is that this is an easily manageable situation. It begins with your shooting process. As veteran photographers often say, “Get it right in the camera.” If you are working with models, examine their wardrobes carefully to ensure no brand names or logos are visible. Beware of shooting items that contain labels, or a skyline that may contain billboards or company names and logos on the buildings themselves.

However, those instances always exist when you must simply “capture the moment” with your camera or else you‘ll lose it forever. You could not, in that moment, help whether the image you captured contained brand names or logos. Such cases call for post production editing via editing software, and this entails a steady balancing act between removing recognizable logos and brand names without compromising the quality of the image. Be sure to remove the logo completely from the image.

Over the last few years, the entire online stock image industry has become more restrictive regarding images of such objects as automobiles and buildings. In most cases, skylines are acceptable without having to worry about trademarks, unless, again, the image contains visible brands or logos anywhere within the image. Remember to remove questionable elements before submitting the images for review. As always, plan your shots in advance. This should ensure that trademark and copyright infringement will never be issues. And for those times when you‘re uncertain, add a note to the reviewers upon submission – doing so will help us evaluate your specific concerns regarding your new batch of submissions.

Further suggested reading:

Ford Vehicle Imagery (Forum Link)