All Collections
Unsplash License
Releases and Trademarks
Releases and Trademarks
Tanya Santos avatar
Written by Tanya Santos
Updated over a week ago

Photographers who upload their photos to Unsplash grant users a free copyright license to their photos. A copyright license doesn’t mean that photo can be used for every kind of use, and further approvals may be required. Just like any other photo sharing or stock photography site, other legal rights should be considered related to how the photo will be used.

For people, places, and things, there are rights of privacy and publicity, access rights, trademarks, and copyright for what’s depicted within the photo.
​  
Commercial use considerations:
- Recognizable people, including celebrities, have the right to profit from
commercial use of their name, image and likeness as well as the right to
object to their name, image or likeness being used without approval.
- Private property, restricted access areas, and ticketed entry
locations often have photo shoot policies and specific release
requirements for commercial uses.
- Objects that appear in the photo may have copyright or trademark
protection that prohibit use of the photo without permission (for example,
a person wearing a t-shirt with a brand logo on it).

While photographers agree that photos uploaded to Unsplash have model
releases, there is no reasonable way for us to monitor all photos that get uploaded
to Unsplash. We cannot make any guarantees about the scope of permitted uses.

We recommend reaching out to the photographer to clarify whether they have a
model or property release. You can do this directly via the ‘message’ button on the
photographer’s profile.


For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions.

Did this answer your question?