Detecting unauthorised usages of images represents a considerable investment!
There is sometimes a common misconception that rights holders automatically discover unauthorised uses and then send out an invoice. This is the story one regularly comes across online.
July 15, 2026
The reality is quite different. Identifying unreported uses requires not only technological investment but also significant human intervention.
Firstly, IT systems must be developed and maintained that are capable of analysing millions of web pages and detecting potential matches between images published online and protected works.
Next, each match must be verified manually. The images found may have been cropped, retouched, compressed or partially altered. Human verification is essential to confirm the identity of the photograph and avoid any errors.
Finally, specialist teams must analyse each case, prepare it and make it legible so that it can be forwarded to the user who does not hold a valid licence.
The case manager will then contact the users concerned to examine the context of the use and seek an appropriate solution.
This comprehensive process requires significant expertise, technology and human resources, which exist solely because photographers have the legitimate right to protect their work and have entrusted us with this task.
And when a case is unsuccessful, we must then refer it to our legal department, which in turn must review the case and take the appropriate legal action, in particular by entrusting it to our partner solicitors, who initiate the necessary legal proceedings where no consensus can be reached with unauthorised users.
Some lawyers representing unlicensed users recommend confrontation at the expense of copyright and the defenceless user … They are simply capitalising on the fact that the courts are overburdened and that obtaining a court ruling will take several months. They are simply fuelling their own business, which runs on autopilot by dispensing standardised advice that they replicate to suit the requests of unauthorised users – who are often taken aback and who, ultimately, risk being found liable by the courts to which their cases are referred.
Respecting copyright means supporting those who create the images that inspire, inform and bring the web to life every day.
