Published: 24/06/2024 , Last updated: 05/08/2025

Copyright and photography guidance

Several parishes have, over the last year, been contacted by copyright agencies (such as PicRights) to pay charges after publishing professionally taken photos without permission.  While the charges are generally set at a low level – around £100 / €100 on each occasion – the time taken to respond to these queries and arrange payment can be significant, especially for smaller church organisations.

Copyright infringements have mainly involved photos from news agencies which use regular searches to check where their photos have appeared online.

PicRights is an authorised company acting on behalf of several agencies, as explained at the following notices on its website and news agency websites:

• Pic Rights – www.picrights.com
• Press Association (PA) – www.paimages.co.uk/about
• Associated Press (AP) – www.ap.org/contact–us/copyright–compliance
• Reuters – www.reutersagency.com/protection–of–reuters–copyright–rights
• Agence France Press (AFP) – www.afp.com/en/access–our–content/partners/our–partners

PicRights is the most common source of copyright infringement notices at present.  If you receive a notice from other companies claiming to represent photographers, check with the news agency to verify that the company is acting on their behalf before responding.  It’s likely that individual photographers will get in touch directly with any copyright queries rather than through a company.

What can be done to reduce the risk of copyright infringement?

We are keen to help all parishes to keep right with copyright by following these three steps:

1. Receive permission – ask for and receive permission from the photographer (or agency).
2. Give credit – ensure that the photographer will be credited when it is published
3. Pay as needed – most agency websites will display prices and easy–to–use payment processes.

To avoid fines for copyright infringements caused by photos already published, parishes should:

1. Review their past and present content on social media feeds and websites.
2. Remove all photos taken by professional photographers for which permission has not been given.
3. Inform the diocese if an infringing photograph been shared with them for further publicity.

What should we do if we have used a photograph which infringes copyright?

If a photograph sourced by the parish infringes copyright and is published on your website, the person responsible for the website should:

1. Remove the photograph from the website and all social media.
2. Log in with the details provided by the agency to check the amount being charged.
3. Let the Select Vestry know that there has been a copyright issue.

What if the photo came from a magazine?

If you find that the photograph was first published in a print magazine which has been uploaded to the website, the person responsible for the website should follow the previous steps and also:

1. Remove the electronic copy of the magazine from the website and all social media.
2. Let the magazine editor know that there has been a copyright issue.
3. Ask the editor to check the magazine’s print archives to ensure that a copy is kept in storage.

The approach taken above will resolve the copyright problem and ensure that an intact version of the magazine is kept for the record but is no longer available online.

How should we respond to a query which asks for a payment?

While the tone of the query is often strongly worded, the charge is normally set at a relatively low rate and represents the commercial value of the photograph produced by the agency.

Take time to respond and check all the details in the query and explore how the fee can be reduced – there will be an option to explain that the parish is a registered charity, and to indicate if you have a licence (which should be provided if in place).

Unreasonable charges should be questioned – for example, how does the charge compare with the fee that would have been normally charged if the photograph had been purchased from a news agency or photographer?  A response which takes this into account should be prepared with care, and with advice taken where needed if the charge appears to be disproportionate.  Please feel free to get in touch with the Press Office to discuss the best approach.

An acknowledgment that the query has been received can be provided in the first instance and organisations are normally given 14 days in which to make an initial response.

How can we source good quality photographs with copyright clearance?

Several design platforms provide high quality stock photographs with copyright permission. Canva Pro, for example, is widely used for designing flyers, booklets and graphics for websites and is freely available to registered charities in the UK and Ireland, after a short registration process has been completed here: www.canva.com/canva–for–nonprofits

If you are unable to find a suitable stock image, a volunteer or member of staff with good photography skills may be able to set this up and source this for you.  Remember to save all copyright licences for future reference when you are sourcing photos – an email message or attachment can, for example, be saved as a PDF document into a folder for this purpose.

Copyright protects the incomes of people who make content and copyright law applies to everyone: the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 in the UK and Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 in Ireland.

As a principle, it treats others as we would wish to be treated, and we want to ensure that everyone in the Church can communicate about their ministry within boundaries which respect creativity.