Image rights learning library
Understand the rights before you use the asset.
Ten plain-language guides separate copyright, likeness, consent, licensing, provenance, editions, AI permission, portability, and tokenization. Each article links to authoritative sources.
Who owns a photograph?
The photographer, the person depicted, the client, and the owner of a print can each hold different interests. Start by separating authorship, the physical or digital copy, likeness permissions, and contract terms.
Reviewed August 23, 2026 · Read guide →02Copyright and likeness rights are not the same thing.
Copyright concerns the creative work. Likeness questions concern the depicted person and the proposed use. A responsible workflow checks both without pretending either one automatically controls the other.
Reviewed August 23, 2026 · Read guide →03What a model or subject release does—and does not do.
A release can document permission and risk allocation for defined uses. Its effect depends on its language, the parties, the circumstances, and applicable law; it is not a universal transfer of every right connected to a person or photograph.
Reviewed August 23, 2026 · Read guide →04What Dual-Key attestation means.
Dual-Key is Image Rights Vault's name for preserving two independent statements: the photographer's account of authorship and permissions, and the depicted person's approval for a defined use.
Reviewed August 23, 2026 · Read guide →05What an authenticated print actually proves.
Authentication is only as useful as its stated evidence. A good record identifies the work, edition, item, process, and checks performed—and clearly separates those facts from ownership, quality, permanence, and legal conclusions.
Reviewed August 23, 2026 · Read guide →06A license is not the same as ownership.
Ownership identifies who holds an asset or right. A license gives permission to exercise specified rights under stated conditions. Confusing the two creates expensive ambiguity for creators, subjects, buyers, and collectors.
Reviewed August 23, 2026 · Read guide →07Why AI-likeness permission must be separate.
Permission for a photograph or campaign should not be stretched into consent to train, clone, simulate, or indefinitely reuse a person's face, voice, movement, or performance.
Reviewed August 23, 2026 · Read guide →08What career portability means.
Portability lets a person leave a representative or service without losing owned career assets or the records needed to understand past work—while preserving valid third-party rights and other people's privacy.
Reviewed August 23, 2026 · Read guide →09What collectors receive with a limited edition.
A collector can receive a specific object with edition and verification information. The purchase ordinarily does not transfer the copyright, the depicted person's likeness rights, or permission to commercialize or reproduce the work.
Reviewed August 23, 2026 · Read guide →10Why tokenization should follow clearly defined rights.
A token can point to a record or help track an item. It cannot create missing copyright, likeness permission, product readiness, legal compliance, or economic value. Define the asset and rights before choosing the technology.
Reviewed August 23, 2026 · Read guide →