Full Image Licence Terms

Last updated: 26 July 2026

These Image Licence Terms govern every photograph, illustration, digital artwork or other visual asset licensed through Knelstrom.com.

Please read these terms before purchasing a licence. By selecting a licence, accepting these terms and completing an order, you agree to be bound by them.

1. The licensor

The licensing service is operated by:

Knelstrom Ltd
Trading as Knelstrom Media
Registered in England and Wales
Company number: 10339954

Registered office:

St Accountancy
Corner House
Market Place
Braintree
Essex CM7 3HQ
United Kingdom

Contact page

Knelstrom Ltd may license an Image as its copyright owner or as the authorised representative, agent or licensee of a photographer, artist or contributor.

2. Definitions

In these terms:

Image means the photograph, illustration, digital artwork or other visual asset identified by the product page, asset ID and Licence Certificate.
Licensor, we, us or our means Knelstrom Ltd.
Licensee, you or your means the individual or organisation identified by the order’s billing details.
Licence means the limited permission to use an Image under these terms and the selections recorded in the Licence Certificate.
Licence Certificate means the certificate issued for a paid order recording the Image, licensee, licence type, Project, intended use, territory, duration, audience and exclusivity.
Project means the publication, production, campaign, product, model or other use named during the purchase.
Master File means the full-resolution Image supplied after payment.
Preview means a watermarked, reduced-resolution or otherwise protected copy displayed before purchase.
Editorial Use means use genuinely connected with news reporting, public-interest reporting, commentary, criticism, education, documentary, history, culture or factual reference.
Commercial Use means advertising, marketing, promotion, merchandising, packaging, entertainment or another use intended to promote a business, product, service, cause or organisation.
AI Dataset Use means the inclusion of an Image in a dataset used to train, test, validate or evaluate an artificial-intelligence or machine-learning system.
Authorised Users means the Licensee’s employees and contractors who require access to the Image solely for the licensed Project.

3. The licensing agreement

The complete agreement consists of:

any separately signed written agreement;
the Licence Certificate and order details;
restrictions and information displayed on the Image’s product page;
these Full Image Licence Terms; and
the short licence descriptions displayed by the calculator.

If there is a conflict, the documents higher in that list take priority.

A Licence takes effect only when payment has cleared and the order has been accepted. A pending, failed, cancelled, refunded or charged-back order does not grant permission to use an Image.

The Licence applies only to the Image identified in the corresponding order. Purchasing one Image does not grant rights to another Image from the same set, gallery, event or shoot.

4. Copyright and ownership

Except where an Image is expressly identified as sourced from the public domain, copyright remains with the named copyright owner. All rights not expressly granted by the Licence are reserved.

The Licensee receives permission to use the Image only within the scope recorded in the Licence Certificate.

Possession of the Master File, payment of the fee or purchase of a Completely Exclusive Licence does not constitute an assignment of copyright.

5. Authorised users and client work

A Licence covers one named Licensee.

If the Licensee is an organisation, its employees may use the Image for the licensed Project. Contractors may receive the Image only where access is necessary to complete that Project and they are bound by confidentiality and usage restrictions at least as protective as these terms.

An advertising agency, designer, publisher or production company may incorporate the Image into a completed Project for its named client. The client may use the completed Project within the purchased rights but does not receive the Master File or any right to reuse the Image independently.

The Licensee remains responsible for every Authorised User, contractor and client to whom it supplies the Image.

The Licence may not otherwise be assigned, transferred or sublicensed without our written permission.

6. General permitted editing

Unless the product page or Licence Certificate says otherwise, you may:

crop, resize and reposition the Image;
make reasonable tonal and colour corrections;
combine it with text, graphics, audio or other material;
prepare different layouts or formats for the same licensed Project; and
create a derivative layout incorporating the Image.

Editorial alterations must not materially change the meaning of the Image or create a misleading account of the event, person, location or subject shown.

You must not alter an Image in a way that is defamatory, deceptive, indecent, obscene, pornographic, unlawful or damaging to the reputation of the photographer, artist, depicted person or copyright owner.

7. General restrictions

Unless expressly authorised by a separate written agreement, you must not:

sell, share, give away, publish or distribute the Master File as a standalone asset;
upload the Image to another stock library, image marketplace, dataset marketplace or media library;
allow another person to extract the Image from a template, product or digital download;
sublicense or resell the Image;
claim that you created or own the Image;
register the Image or any substantially similar version as your copyright, trade mark, design, NFT or other proprietary asset;
use the Image as a logo, trade mark or service mark;
remove or falsify copyright, creator, source or rights-management metadata;
use a Preview, screenshot or watermarked copy in a published Project;
use the Image beyond the Project, duration, territory, audience or exclusivity purchased;
use the Image unlawfully, fraudulently or to promote illegal activity;
use an identifiable person in a way that falsely suggests endorsement, sponsorship, employment or personal approval;
use an identifiable person in a defamatory or misleading context;
use an Image in connection with pornography, sexual services, deceptive impersonation or a sexualised deepfake;
use the Image for biometric identification, facial-recognition surveillance, discriminatory profiling, weapon targeting or unlawful monitoring; or
use the Image for AI training, model evaluation or dataset creation unless an AI Dataset Licence has been purchased.

8. Editorial licences

Editorial licences are for factual, documentary, journalistic, educational and cultural contexts. They do not authorise advertising, product endorsement, merchandising or promotional use.

8.1 Editorial Standard

Editorial Standard permits one editorial article or shared editorial Project, including:

an editorial website;
editorial social-media posts supporting the Project;
a magazine article; or
a newspaper article.

It does not permit book publishing, educational products, documentaries, title sequences, advertising or commercial promotion.

8.2 Editorial Enhanced

Editorial Enhanced permits one enhanced editorial Project, including:

inside use in a book;
an educational or academic print or digital product;
a press release or press pack;
a documentary or news programme, excluding its title sequence;
a museum or visitor-attraction display; or
another non-commercial factual display.

8.3 Editorial Premium

Editorial Premium permits one premium editorial Project, including:

prominent editorial use approved by the selected Project and intended-use description; or
use within the title sequence of a documentary or factual programme.

A new publication, unrelated article, production, programme, title or Project requires a new Licence.

9. Commercial licences

Commercial licences are available only where the product’s licensing controls permit them.

Commercial permission does not automatically include permission from every person, brand, property owner, artist, architect or rights holder depicted in the Image. Section 15 explains the clearance requirements.

9.1 Commercial Standard

Commercial Standard permits one commercial Project, including:

a company website;
commercial social media;
internal business communications;
internal presentations; or
a pitch presentation.

It does not permit paid advertising, product packaging, merchandise, book covers, entertainment productions, video games or feature films.

9.2 Commercial Enhanced

Commercial Enhanced permits one enhanced commercial Project, including:

online advertising;
marketing, direct mail, brochures and reports;
advertorial material;
packaging;
gifts, merchandise or board games;
a book or magazine cover;
corporate, retail, domestic, trade-show or point-of-sale display;
an entertainment programme, excluding its title sequence;
a video game, excluding its title sequence; or
another use expressly described in the Licence Certificate.

9.3 Commercial Premium

Commercial Premium permits one premium commercial Project, including:

a feature film;
an entertainment-programme or film title sequence;
a video-game title sequence;
a channel ident;
a trailer; or
key art for the named production.

It does not permit unrelated campaigns, sequels, productions, products or Projects unless they are expressly included in the Licence Certificate.

10. Royalty Free licence

A Royalty Free Licence grants the named Licensee a non-exclusive, worldwide and perpetual right to use the Image in multiple Projects and across multiple media.

“Royalty Free” does not mean free of charge, free of copyright or free from restrictions.

The Licence remains subject to:

all general restrictions in these terms;
editorial-only notices;
model, property, trade mark and other third-party rights;
restrictions displayed on the product page; and
the prohibition on redistribution of the Master File.

A Royalty Free Licence does not include AI Dataset Use unless that right is granted separately.

11. AI Dataset licences

AI Dataset rights are licensed per Image. A volume discount changes the price but does not expand the rights granted.

AI Dataset Licences are limited to the organisation identified as the Licensee. A parent company, subsidiary, customer, consortium member or separate legal entity is not covered unless expressly named.

11.1 AI Research Dataset

The AI Research Dataset Licence permits:

one Image;
one organisation;
one non-commercial research Project or AI model; and
use for one year from the Licence start date.

The Image may be used for training, testing, validation and evaluation within that Project.

Commercial deployment, paid services, advertising-supported deployment and use for a client are not permitted.

When the Licence expires, the Image must be removed from active datasets and must not be used for further training, testing or model development. A secure compliance copy may be retained where required by law or research-integrity rules.

11.2 AI Commercial Dataset

The AI Commercial Dataset Licence permits:

one Image;
one organisation; and
one commercially deployed AI model or product.

The licensed organisation may use the Image internally for training, testing, validation and evaluation of that named model or product.

Use in another model, another separately marketed product or for another organisation requires another Licence or an AI Extended Dataset Licence.

11.3 AI Extended Dataset

The AI Extended Dataset Licence permits:

one Image;
one organisation; and
multiple commercial AI models or products operated by that organisation.

It does not cover unrelated organisations, group companies, customers or public redistribution of the source dataset unless expressly stated in a separate agreement.

11.4 Restrictions applying to all AI Dataset Licences

An AI Dataset Licence does not permit you to:

redistribute, publish, sell or sublicense the source Image;
sell or distribute the Image as part of a recoverable source-image dataset;
deliberately design a model to reproduce or extract the Image;
remove provenance or copyright records from the internal dataset register;
use the Image for facial-recognition identification or biometric surveillance;
create sexually explicit or deceptive depictions of an identifiable person;
use an identifiable person’s likeness to imply an endorsement or statement they did not make;
create unlawful, discriminatory or defamatory output;
train systems intended primarily for criminal activity, harassment, weapon targeting or unlawful surveillance; or
use an editorial-only Image for AI purposes.

The Licensee must use reasonable technical and organisational safeguards against unauthorised access, dataset extraction and memorisation or reconstruction of the source Image.

The Licence grants rights in the Image only. It does not grant publicity, personality, privacy, data-protection, trade mark or other rights in any depicted person, place, artwork, brand or property.

12. Project and intended use

Rights-managed Editorial and Commercial Licences are limited to the Project and intended use entered during purchase.

A single Project may include reasonable format, layout, resolution and platform variations of the same publication, campaign or production. It does not include a new article, new title, unrelated edition, new advertising campaign, sequel, spin-off or separate product.

If the intended use changes materially, an additional Licence must be purchased before the changed use begins.

13. Authorised domains

Website domains entered during purchase form part of the Licence.

The Licensee may use the Image on those domains only, except where the Licence Certificate also authorises another medium.

Leaving the domain field blank does not grant unrestricted online use. It indicates either print-only use or that the final domain was not known at the time of purchase.

A domain may be updated for the same Project with our written confirmation. It may not be substituted to move the Image to an unrelated Project or customer.

14. Territory, duration and audience

Territory

The selected territory limits where the Project may be distributed, broadcast, promoted or targeted.

Online use that is openly accessible worldwide is treated as Worldwide unless:

access is effectively restricted to the selected territory; or
the Licence Certificate expressly states that territory refers to the Project’s target market rather than technical accessibility.

Duration

The Licence begins on the date shown in the Licence Certificate.

For a fixed duration, the Licensee must stop making new use of the Image when the duration ends. Previously manufactured physical copies may remain in circulation, but no new print run, republication, rebroadcast or distribution may take place.

An unchanged editorial archive may remain accessible after the active publication period only where the Licence Certificate, intended-use description or written confirmation permits life-of-title or in-context archival use.

“Perpetual” or “life of title” means the life of the licensed Project. For a rights-managed Licence, it does not permit new Projects.

Audience

The audience selected during purchase must be a reasonable good-faith estimate of the Project’s maximum combined print, digital, social, exhibition or broadcast audience.

If the expected audience materially exceeds the purchased band, the Licence must be upgraded before the additional distribution takes place.

15. People, property, releases and other rights

The product page may display:

the approximate number of people in the Image;
whether model releases are available;
whether a property release is available;
whether customer-safe release documents will be supplied;
whether the Image is editorial only; and
additional restrictions or information.

If a customer-safe model or property release is included, it will be made available to the paid Licensee. Private signed originals, personal contact details and unnecessary personal information will not be supplied.

Release documents may be used only to confirm the Licensee’s authority for the licensed Project. They must be kept secure and must not be published, sold or used for another purpose.

Unless the product page expressly confirms otherwise, no release or permission is provided for:

an identifiable person;
private property;
a building or protected architectural design;
artwork, sculpture or street art;
a trade mark, logo, product or brand;
clothing or product designs;
a performance; or
another work appearing within the Image.

The Licensee is responsible for deciding whether further permissions are needed for its particular use.

The availability of a Commercial Licence does not create or imply endorsement by a depicted person or organisation.

16. Editorial-only Images

An Image marked Editorial only may be used only under an available Editorial Licence.

It must not be used for:

advertising or promotion;
marketing or advertorial presented as independent editorial;
merchandise or packaging;
product endorsement;
branding;
commercial social-media promotion;
AI training or dataset use; or
any use that falsely suggests approval by a depicted person, brand or organisation.

Newsworthy use does not remove the Licensee’s responsibility to comply with defamation, privacy, contempt, reporting-restriction and other applicable laws.

17. Public-domain material

An Image marked Image sourced from public domain contains underlying material that we believe is no longer protected by copyright or is otherwise available for public-domain use.

Knelstrom Ltd does not claim ownership of copyright that has expired or does not exist.

The purchase price may cover services including locating, researching, cataloguing, scanning, restoring, enhancing, describing, hosting and securely delivering the particular file.

Any Licence applies only to rights that may exist in Knelstrom’s protectable additions, selection, restoration or presentation. It does not remove public-domain rights in the underlying work.

Public-domain status does not guarantee that every other right has expired. The Licensee remains responsible for privacy, personality, trade mark, cultural-property and other applicable restrictions.

18. Credits

For editorial use, the copyright credit shown on the product page or Licence Certificate must be included wherever reasonably practicable.

If no other wording is supplied, use:

© Knelstrom Media

Where another copyright owner is identified, use the credit supplied with the Image.

A credit does not expand the Licence and does not cure unauthorised use.

19. Delivery and downloads

After cleared payment, the Licensee will receive access to:

the licensed Master File;
a Licence Certificate; and
any customer-safe release documents included with the Image.

Download links may be limited by time and number of downloads. The Licensee should download the files promptly and maintain a secure backup.

The Master File must be protected against unauthorised access. It should not be stored in a publicly accessible folder or shared through an unrestricted link.

Loss of the Licensee’s copy does not automatically entitle the Licensee to a different format, replacement Image or expanded Licence.

20. Prices, taxes and payment

The price shown by the licence calculator is based on the selected rights.

Rights-managed Editorial and Commercial prices may be calculated using:

base licence price × territory × duration × audience × exclusivity

Royalty Free and AI Dataset Licences use the prices and any volume discounts displayed during purchase.

The final checkout total will show applicable taxes and unavoidable charges before the order is placed.

The Licence fee covers only the rights expressly granted. It does not include production costs, legal clearance work, third-party permissions or a transfer of copyright.

21. Consumers, cancellation and refunds

This section applies where the Licensee is acting as a consumer rather than wholly or mainly for business purposes.

Digital Images are normally supplied immediately after payment.

If you request immediate delivery during the statutory cancellation period, you must expressly consent to supply beginning immediately and acknowledge that your right to cancel will be lost when the download begins.

If you do not provide that consent and acknowledgement, delivery may be delayed until the applicable cancellation period has ended.

Once immediate supply has begun with your consent and acknowledgement, refunds are not normally available merely because you changed your mind, selected the wrong licence or no longer require the Image.

This does not affect your legal rights where digital content is faulty, corrupted, materially misdescribed or cannot be supplied.

Business customers have no right to cancel after payment unless we agree otherwise or the supplied file or Licence is materially defective.

If a full refund, chargeback or payment reversal is issued, the Licence ends. The Licensee must stop using the Image and delete all usable copies, except where retention is required by law.

22. Our warranties

We warrant that:

we own or have authority to license the rights expressly granted;
the supplied file will substantially correspond with its product description; and
we will provide digital content with reasonable care and skill.

We do not warrant that:

an Image is suitable for every possible use;
every depicted person, property, trade mark, artwork or design has been released;
use will be lawful in every country or context;
an Image is completely free from third-party rights unless expressly stated;
colours will appear identically on every screen or in every print process;
an AI model trained using an Image will produce any particular result; or
online monitoring will locate every use of an Image.

The Licensee is responsible for reviewing the full-resolution Image, metadata, restrictions and release information before publication.

23. Liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability where doing so would be unlawful, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

Nothing in these terms affects a consumer’s statutory rights.

For consumers, we are responsible for reasonably foreseeable loss caused by our breach of these terms. We are not responsible for business losses suffered by a consumer.

For business Licensees:

we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss;
we are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, opportunity, goodwill, anticipated savings or business interruption; and
our total liability arising from an Image or Licence will not exceed the amount paid for that Image’s Licence.

The business limitations above do not apply to liability that cannot legally be limited or excluded.

A business Licensee will indemnify Knelstrom Ltd and the copyright owner against third-party claims, losses and reasonable costs resulting from the Licensee’s unauthorised, unlawful or misleading use of an Image.

24. Breach and termination

The Licence terminates automatically if the Licensee:

fails to pay the applicable fee;
uses the Image outside the licensed rights;
supplies the Master File to an unauthorised person;
materially breaches these terms and fails to remedy the breach after notice; or
uses the Image unlawfully or fraudulently.

Following termination, the Licensee must stop using the Image, remove it from active Projects and delete all usable copies under its control.

Termination does not affect rights and liabilities that arose before termination. We may pursue appropriate legal remedies for copyright infringement, breach of contract or other unlawful use.

25. Exclusivity

Non-exclusive

A Non-exclusive Licence allows us and the copyright owner to continue using the Image and licensing it to other customers.

Sector-exclusive

A Sector-exclusive Licence prevents us from knowingly granting a new conflicting commercial Licence within the industry sector named in the Licence Certificate, for the selected use, territory and duration.

We may continue to:

use or license the Image outside that sector;
permit genuine editorial use;
honour licences granted before the sector-exclusive Licence began; and
retain copies for administration, evidence and rights monitoring.

Completely exclusive

A Completely Exclusive Licence prevents us from granting new conflicting licences within the scope, territory and duration recorded in the Licence Certificate.

The Image will be removed from direct sale and, where applicable, from conflicting external agency listings.

Complete exclusivity:

begins only after cleared payment;
does not invalidate licences granted before its start date;
does not require the recall of previously published material;
cannot guarantee the removal of unauthorised third-party copies from the internet;
does not transfer copyright; and
permits us to retain secure archival and evidential copies.

Unless a separately signed document expressly provides otherwise, complete exclusivity is contractual exclusivity within the purchased scope and is not an assignment of copyright.

A buyer requiring the statutory standing of an exclusive copyright licensee should obtain a separately signed exclusive-licence document.

26. Rights monitoring

We may use reverse-image searching, metadata, authorised-domain records, agency sales records and other proportionate tools to locate possible uses of our Images.

Monitoring results may be compared with direct sales and third-party agency licences. Potential matches will be reviewed before enforcement action is considered.

Monitoring does not change the rights granted and does not guarantee that every authorised or unauthorised use will be found.

If we reasonably believe an Image has been used outside its Licence, we may ask the user or Licensee for publication details, order information or evidence of another valid licence.

Unauthorised use may result in removal requests, a retrospective licence request, a claim for damages, an injunction or other remedies available by law.

27. Privacy

We process customer details, intended-use information, authorised domains, licence records and monitoring information for order fulfilment, rights administration, fraud prevention and copyright enforcement.

Personal information is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy:

PRIVACY POLICY

28. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms for future orders.

The version in force when an order is placed will continue to govern that Licence unless the parties agree otherwise in writing.

Licensees should retain their order confirmation and Licence Certificate as evidence of the purchased rights.

29. General provisions

If part of these terms is found unlawful or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in effect.

A failure or delay in enforcing a right does not waive that right.

These terms do not create a partnership, employment relationship or joint venture.

No person who is not a party to the Licence may enforce these terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. This does not restrict any copyright owner’s independent statutory rights.

30. Governing law and disputes

These terms and each Licence are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

For business Licensees, the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

Consumers may bring proceedings in the courts available to them under applicable consumer law, including the courts of the part of the United Kingdom in which they live.

Please contact us first if there is a problem with an order so that we have an opportunity to resolve it.

31. Contact

Questions about a Licence, permitted use or an existing order should be sent through:

Contact

Postal correspondence may be sent to:

Knelstrom Ltd
St Accountancy
Corner House
Market Place
Braintree
Essex CM7 3HQ
United Kingdom