06-Permitted Use

With traditional "rights protected" stock photography you are essentially renting the use of a picture for a specific and clearly stated purpose. If you want to use the image in any other way-- you need to secure permission to do so.

As such, the "rights" to the image are "protected" by the agency. (See "competing use Protection" below, for the advantage of this "control" for you.)

With "royalty free" images the purchase price has nothing to do with how you intend to use the pictures. Whether you purchase a CD-ROM containing lots of pictures-- or a single picture downloaded from the WEB-- you may use it in any way you want (more or less, depending on which royalty-free vendor you’re dealing with) as much as you want as many times as you want-- with no further payment due to the vendor.

The Kicker: "Royalty Free" isn't necessarily royalty free. If you read the fine print, many purveyors of royalty free images place at least some restrictions on what you can do-- see No Items For Resale.