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Terms and Conditions

Please read the entire Terms and Conditions carefully before downloading or using any image or video material. By purchasing a license/downloading image or video material, you agree to be legally bound by the terms of this agreement and the usage restrictions mentioned therein, on an invoice, and/or on the website.

Last revision: September 21, 2023

  1. IMAGO grants usage licenses for photographs and videos in exchange for the appropriate license fee. For PR materials (e.g., film stills), pool photos and videos, and other public domain photos and videos, no license fee is charged; instead, a service fee of the same amount is applied.
  2. All licensed material is protected by copyright laws and remains the property of IMAGO or its licensors at all times. Within the scope of this offer, only non-exclusive usage rights as defined by copyright law can be acquired.
  3. The redistribution of the image or video materials or contents incorporating the image or video materials to third parties is only permitted if expressly regulated and separately authorized.
  4. The granting of rights includes the right to edit the images and videos, to (potentially partially) use the images and videos while respecting the author's moral rights, and to use the images and videos in conjunction with works of other rights holders.
  5. The applicable provisions regarding the personal rights of depicted individuals or legal entities must be observed.
  6. The client alone is responsible for determining whether images or videos featuring depicted individuals or property can be used for certain non-editorial purposes. This applies even if IMAGO has granted the customer the right to use them for these purposes.
  7. Generally, any defamatory or distorted use of the image and video material must be avoided. In case of non-compliance, IMAGO excludes liability for any damages.
  8. Images and videos for which a model release is available are appropriately marked. When placing in contexts generally perceived as controversial, it should be noted that the image and video are used for illustration purposes only.
  9. IMAGO cannot obtain rights to potentially depicted artistic works (e.g., paintings, stamps, film productions). In general, images and videos with corresponding motifs cannot be used independently of a reference to the editorial context (e.g., using film stills only when reporting on the film).
  10. IMAGO is exempt from any liability to the client for damages resulting from the client's violations of points 5, 6, 7, and 8.
  11. Image and video captions, keywords, or other information such as AI-generated content labels are created to the best knowledge of the author or according to the instructions of the image and/or video provider. IMAGO cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information. Therefore, IMAGO is exempt from any liability to the client for damages resulting from inaccuracies.
  12. IMAGO should be notified of any potential claims for damages as early as possible.
  13. Upon print or other publication of the images and videos, a copyright notice in the form of "IMAGO / Photographer's Name" must be included. In cases of redistribution of the image or video materials or contents incorporating the image or video materials by the client to third parties, the client is obligated to impose the same requirement on the third parties.
  14. On all digital platforms, a note should be included in the imprint regarding the use of IMAGO image and video material, containing a link to https://www.imago-images.com. In cases of redistribution of the image or video materials or contents incorporating the image or video materials by the client to third parties, the client must impose the same requirement on third-party providers.
  15. The client is responsible for publishing the images and videos in digital media in a manner that prevents usage beyond the granted rights, e.g., through security measures such as download protection, naming the author, or watermarking the image or video, or restricting the pixel size of the published image or video.
  16. By compensating for damages and/or paying other costs and fees calculated according to these terms, the downloading client neither acquires ownership nor usage rights to the agency's image and video material.
  17. Any usage of the image and video material is subject to a fee. This also applies to the use of an image as a quote, template for drawings, caricatures, reenacted photos, for layout purposes and client presentations, and when using image details that become part of a new image work through montages, photo composing, electronic picture carriers, or similar techniques.
  18. In cases of unauthorized or unreported use or redistribution of the image and video material, a fee equal to five times the recommended fees found in the current publication of the Mittelstandsgemeinschaft Foto-Marketing, published on the website of the Bundesverband professioneller Bildanbieter at www.bvpa.de, will be charged. This provision does not limit or exclude the assertion of further damages.
  19. Exclusive rights or lock-up periods must be agreed upon separately and require at least a 100% surcharge on the respective basic fee.
  20. If the intended publication or other usage does not take place, any fees already paid cannot be refunded.
  21. Consent to the transfer of usage rights is mandatory, even if the transfer occurs as part of the overall sale of a company or the sale of parts of a company (§ 34 paragraph 3 of the German Copyright Act); this clause is to be regarded as a separate agreement according to § 34 paragraph 4 of the German Copyright Act.
  22. Distortion of the copyrighted work through drawing, re-photographing, photo composing, or electronic aids is not permitted. Furthermore, the use of the image and video material for machine learning ("Machine Learning") and AI-generated content creation is expressly prohibited. Exceptions require a separate agreement. In case of violations, IMAGO is entitled to charge five times the usual fee according to the recommendations of the Mittelstandsgemeinschaft Foto-Marketing or the originally agreed fee. This provision does not limit or exclude the assertion of further damages.
  23. Unless specifically mentioned above, any usage is subject to the provisions of the German Copyright Act.
  24. Deviant terms and conditions of the client are only valid if confirmed in writing by the agency.

For all legal matters, the German version of these Terms and Conditions is the legally binding one.