IP guidelines

In order to submit content to Adobe Stock, you must follow these IP Guidelines, which are a part of the Adobe Stock Contributor Agreement (“Contributor Agreement”).

Adobe Stock does not permit the submission of content that infringes intellectual property rights, including as detailed in the IP Guidelines. Intellectual property rights include copyright, trademark, trade dress, and similar rights. Our Known Restrictions List specifies restricted subjects protected by intellectual property rights, but please note this is not a comprehensive list. 

By submitting content to Adobe Stock, you agree that you own or have a license to the copyright in the content. Copyright protects any expression of an idea on tangible media, such as a poem, architectural design, photograph, video, or painting. A person who owns a copyrighted work has the exclusive rights to distribute, reproduce, publicly perform, and modify it — or to grant some or all these rights to customers.

Understanding copyright

You must own or control all the rights to the files you submit to Adobe Stock. Don’t submit files that don’t belong to you, such as photos taken by your spouse. Don’t incorporate anything into your content that was created by someone else — not even images you got from a website that allows free downloads — unless you have a complete property release from the owner of the other content.

By way of example, you may not upload content that is lifted from third party sites (such as Unsplash or Pixabay). You may also not submit content that is too similar to the expression of another individual or entity’s work.  

Don’t submit what you believe to be public-domain content 

Don’t submit content created by other artists, including content available as a free download at any location 

Don’t submit content that’s partially based on the work of other artist

A trademark is a set of words, a logo, or a symbol that exclusively identifies a company, brand, product, or service. Trade dress is a type of trademark that refers to the appearance or design of a product or its packaging.

Trade dress can include a distinctive shape or color. For example, the UPS Shield logo and the brown color of UPS delivery uniforms and trucks are all considered trade dress belonging to United Parcel Service, Inc. 

Adobe Stock can’t accept content that depicts trademarks or trade dress, so make sure to completely remove any trademarked symbols or objects from your photos, videos, and other submissions.

Your content may implicate other IP rights specific to your content, and it is your responsibility to ensure that your content submissions do not infringe these IP rights. Please note that these guidelines do not contain a comprehensive list of all applicable IP rights, and so you should consult your legal counsel on specific legal questions.  

Your content may be removed, or your account may be deactivated, for not complying with these IP Guidelines. If you dispute such a decision, you may file an appeal or use an out-of-court dispute resolution option (where applicable in your jurisdiction) by following the process here: https://www.adobe.com/trust/transparency.html