{"course":{"slug":"independent-creative","title":"Working for Yourself","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/independent-creative","level":"intermediate","track":"create"},"lesson":{"slug":"client-supplied-material","title":"The risk that arrives in an email","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/independent-creative/client-supplied-material","position":60,"of":84,"minutes":9,"answer":"An indemnity clause allocates responsibility for client-supplied material but is worth only what the client is worth.","keyIdea":"An indemnity clause allocates responsibility for client-supplied material but is worth only what the client is worth, so the working half is asking at kickoff where each asset came from and keeping the email in which they told you."},"body":{"format":"markdown","text":"## The folder the client sends you\n\nA client sends you a folder: their logo, some photographs, a scanned brochure, a font file, an image they found. You use what you are given, deliver the work, and it is printed.\n\nMonths later a demand letter arrives about one of the photographs. It goes to the client, who forwards it to you, because you are the one who put the image in the layout.\n\nThis is one of the most common legal problems in independent creative work, and it is almost entirely manageable, but only by things you do before the project, not after.\n\n## Who is actually responsible\n\nTwo questions, and they have different answers.\n\n**Legally**, in most systems, the party who reproduced and published the infringing material can be liable, and that can include the designer as well as the client. Some jurisdictions treat innocent infringement more leniently on damages, and many do not excuse it entirely.\n\n**Contractually**, it is whatever you wrote down. This is the part you control, and it is why the clause matters more than the general legal position.\n\n## The clause\n\nOne paragraph in your terms, in plain words:\n\n> \"Where the client supplies text, images, fonts, music or other material, the client confirms it has the right to use that material for this project and will indemnify the designer against any claim arising from it. The designer is not responsible for verifying ownership of client-supplied material.\"\n\nTwo things to know honestly about this. It is normal, reasonable and widely used, and most clients sign it without comment. And an indemnity from a small business with no assets is worth exactly what the business is worth: the clause allocates responsibility, it does not guarantee recovery.\n\nSo the clause is necessary and not sufficient. The other half is asking.\n\n## Asking, in a way that works\n\nDo not send a legal question. Send a practical one, at kickoff, as part of the asset request:\n\n> \"For the photographs, are these ones you commissioned, or bought from a stock library, or from somewhere else? If they are stock, could you send me the licence or the receipt so I know what we can use them for?\"\n\nThis is framed as a scoping question, which is what it is, and it produces an honest answer. Common responses and what they mean:\n\n**\"Our photographer took them.\"** Ask what the licence says. Frequently the photographer granted limited rights and the client assumes ownership. This is worth resolving before the images go on packaging.\n\n**\"We bought them from a stock site.\"** Ask for the licence. Check whether it covers the intended use: editorial-only images and print-run caps are the usual traps.\n\n**\"They were on our old website.\"** Nobody knows where they came from. Treat as unknown provenance.\n\n**\"I found it online.\"** Now you know, before production.\n\n## When the material is unusable\n\nSay it factually, without accusation, and offer a route:\n\n> \"The kitchen photograph appears to be from a stock library and I cannot find a licence for it. Using it on the packaging carries a real risk of a demand later, which is usually several times the cost of the licence. Options: buy the licence, which is about X; use one of these three free-library alternatives; or commission a shoot, which for four images would be around Y.\"\n\nOffering priced alternatives turns an objection into a decision. Clients almost always take one of them, because the risk is now visible and the remedy is cheap.\n\nIf they insist on using something you believe is infringing, put your advice in writing once, keep it, and decide whether to proceed. For something clearly unlawful (a competitor's photographs, a counterfeit mark) decline. The fee is never worth being the person who produced it.\n\n## The client's own logo\n\nA special case worth its own attention, because it comes up constantly with small businesses.\n\nThe client sends a logo their nephew made, or a print shop drew, and nobody has any documentation. Under the default rules in many countries the original creator may still own the copyright, and the business may have only an implied licence to use it. If you now redraw, extend and build an identity on it, you are producing derivative work from something of uncertain ownership.\n\nAsk the question at kickoff: \"who made the original mark, and do you have anything in writing about ownership?\" Usually the answer is nothing, and usually nothing ever comes of it. Occasionally the original designer reappears when the business becomes successful, which is precisely when the stakes are high.\n\nNote it in writing, recommend they regularise it, and move on. You have done what a professional should.\n\n## Fonts the client sends\n\nIf a client sends font files, do not assume they are licensed. Ask what licence they hold and for how many seats. Using an unlicensed font in delivered artwork is detectable in the output file, and foundries do check published work.\n\nWhere the licence is unclear, the free path solves it cleanly: an open licensed face that can be embedded, served and redistributed without a seat count.\n\n## Recording it\n\nKeep the email in which the client confirmed the provenance of their material. That single message, filed with the project, is the practical form of the indemnity clause: evidence that you asked and were told.\n\nThis costs nothing and it is the difference between \"I used what I was sent\" and a dated written confirmation from the client that they had the rights.\n\n## The limitation\n\nYou cannot verify what you are told. A client who says they own the photographs may be wrong, and there is no realistic way for a designer to audit the provenance of every asset in every project.\n\nWhat the process achieves is narrower and still worth having. It catches the obvious cases, which are the majority. It moves the responsibility to the party who actually knows, in writing. And it means that if a claim arrives, the conversation begins with a documented question and answer rather than with everybody trying to remember who put the image in the folder."},"check":{"question":"A client's asset folder contains photographs. Which question produces the most useful answer at kickoff?","options":[{"text":"'Do you own the copyright in these photographs?': the direct question, which establishes the legal position the indemnity clause depends on.","correct":false,"tempting":"Sounds rigorous and reliably produces a confident yes, because most clients believe paying for a shoot means owning the result."},{"text":"'Are these cleared for commercial use?', which surfaces the editorial-only restriction that is the most common problem with stock imagery.","correct":false,"tempting":"Names a real trap, but it asks the client to apply a distinction they have almost certainly never heard of."},{"text":"'Did you commission these, buy them from a library, or get them somewhere else, and could you send the licence or receipt?'","correct":true},{"text":"'Can you confirm in writing that you have the right to use these for this project?', which creates the documented confirmation that supports the indemnity.","correct":false,"tempting":"Worth having on file and it is what the clause needs, but a blanket confirmation reveals nothing about provenance and so prevents nothing."}]},"prev":{"slug":"trademark-vs-copyright","title":"What a logo client is actually buying","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/independent-creative/trademark-vs-copyright"},"next":{"slug":"when-someone-takes-it","title":"Your work will be stolen and the courts are not the answer","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/independent-creative/when-someone-takes-it"},"authorship":"Founder and series editor: Dr Mustafa Mun. Written by AI models to a written standard. Exam keys checked blind by a second model: 3,665 of 3,666 agreed. Academic review invited.","review":{"status":"Draft, open for academic review"},"cite":"Addaly (2026) 'The risk that arrives in an email', in Working for Yourself. Edited by M. Mun. Addaly. Available at: https://addaly.com/learn/independent-creative/client-supplied-material (Accessed: 13 October 2026).","licence":{"name":"CC BY-NC-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/"},"reader":{"schema":1,"title":"The risk that arrives in an email","courseTitle":"Working for Yourself","module":{"index":6,"slug":"ownership-and-risk","title":"Ownership, rights and risk"},"answer":null,"keyIdea":"An indemnity clause allocates responsibility for client-supplied material but is worth only what the client is worth, so the working half is asking at kickoff where each asset came from and keeping the email in which they told you.","hero":{"kind":"plate","image":null,"alt":null,"caption":null},"blocks":[{"t":"h2","id":"the-folder-the-client-sends-you","runs":[{"text":"The folder the client sends you"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"A client sends you a folder: their logo, some photographs, a scanned brochure, a font file, an image they found. You use what you are given, deliver the work, and it is printed."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Months later a demand letter arrives about one of the photographs. It goes to the client, who forwards it to you, because you are the one who put the image in the layout."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"This is one of the most common legal problems in independent creative work, and it is almost entirely manageable, but only by things you do before the project, not after."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"who-is-actually-responsible","runs":[{"text":"Who is actually responsible"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Two questions, and they have different answers."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Legally","b":true},{"text":", in most systems, the party who reproduced and published the infringing material can be liable, and that can include the designer as well as the client. Some jurisdictions treat innocent infringement more leniently on damages, and many do not excuse it entirely."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Contractually","b":true},{"text":", it is whatever you wrote down. This is the part you control, and it is why the clause matters more than the general legal position."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"the-clause","runs":[{"text":"The clause"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"One paragraph in your terms, in plain words:"}]},{"t":"quote","runs":[{"text":"“Where the client supplies text, images, fonts, music or other material, the client confirms it has the right to use that material for this project and will indemnify the designer against any claim arising from it. The designer is not responsible for verifying ownership of client-supplied material.”"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Two things to know honestly about this. It is normal, reasonable and widely used, and most clients sign it without comment. And an indemnity from a small business with no assets is worth exactly what the business is worth: the clause allocates responsibility, it does not guarantee recovery."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"So the clause is necessary and not sufficient. The other half is asking."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"asking-in-a-way-that-works","runs":[{"text":"Asking, in a way that works"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Do not send a legal question. Send a practical one, at kickoff, as part of the asset request:"}]},{"t":"quote","runs":[{"text":"“For the photographs, are these ones you commissioned, or bought from a stock library, or from somewhere else? If they are stock, could you send me the licence or the receipt so I know what we can use them for?”"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"This is framed as a scoping question, which is what it is, and it produces an honest answer. Common responses and what they mean:"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"”Our photographer took them.”","b":true},{"text":" Ask what the licence says. Frequently the photographer granted limited rights and the client assumes ownership. This is worth resolving before the images go on packaging."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"”We bought them from a stock site.”","b":true},{"text":" Ask for the licence. Check whether it covers the intended use: editorial-only images and print-run caps are the usual traps."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"”They were on our old website.”","b":true},{"text":" Nobody knows where they came from. Treat as unknown provenance."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"”I found it online.”","b":true},{"text":" Now you know, before production."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"when-the-material-is-unusable","runs":[{"text":"When the material is unusable"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Say it factually, without accusation, and offer a route:"}]},{"t":"quote","runs":[{"text":"“The kitchen photograph appears to be from a stock library and I cannot find a licence for it. Using it on the packaging carries a real risk of a demand later, which is usually several times the cost of the licence. Options: buy the licence, which is about X; use one of these three free-library alternatives; or commission a shoot, which for four images would be around Y.”"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Offering priced alternatives turns an objection into a decision. Clients almost always take one of them, because the risk is now visible and the remedy is cheap."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"If they insist on using something you believe is infringing, put your advice in writing once, keep it, and decide whether to proceed. For something clearly unlawful (a competitor’s photographs, a counterfeit mark) decline. The fee is never worth being the person who produced it."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"the-client-s-own-logo","runs":[{"text":"The client’s own logo"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"A special case worth its own attention, because it comes up constantly with small businesses."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The client sends a logo their nephew made, or a print shop drew, and nobody has any documentation. Under the default rules in many countries the original creator may still own the copyright, and the business may have only an implied licence to use it. If you now redraw, extend and build an identity on it, you are producing derivative work from something of uncertain ownership."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Ask the question at kickoff: “who made the original mark, and do you have anything in writing about ownership?” Usually the answer is nothing, and usually nothing ever comes of it. Occasionally the original designer reappears when the business becomes successful, which is precisely when the stakes are high."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Note it in writing, recommend they regularise it, and move on. You have done what a professional should."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"fonts-the-client-sends","runs":[{"text":"Fonts the client sends"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"If a client sends font files, do not assume they are licensed. Ask what licence they hold and for how many seats. Using an unlicensed font in delivered artwork is detectable in the output file, and foundries do check published work."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Where the licence is unclear, the free path solves it cleanly: an open licensed face that can be embedded, served and redistributed without a seat count."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"recording-it","runs":[{"text":"Recording it"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Keep the email in which the client confirmed the provenance of their material. That single message, filed with the project, is the practical form of the indemnity clause: evidence that you asked and were told."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"This costs nothing and it is the difference between “I used what I was sent” and a dated written confirmation from the client that they had the rights."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"the-limitation","runs":[{"text":"The limitation"}],"role":"limit"},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"You cannot verify what you are told. A client who says they own the photographs may be wrong, and there is no realistic way for a designer to audit the provenance of every asset in every project."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"What the process achieves is narrower and still worth having. It catches the obvious cases, which are the majority. It moves the responsibility to the party who actually knows, in writing. And it means that if a claim arrives, the conversation begins with a documented question and answer rather than with everybody trying to remember who put the image in the folder."}]}],"check":{"question":[{"text":"A client’s asset folder contains photographs. Which question produces the most useful answer at kickoff?"}],"options":[{"text":[{"text":"‘Do you own the copyright in these photographs?’: the direct question, which establishes the legal position the indemnity clause depends on."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Sounds rigorous and reliably produces a confident yes, because most clients believe paying for a shoot means owning the result."}]},{"text":[{"text":"‘Are these cleared for commercial use?’, which surfaces the editorial-only restriction that is the most common problem with stock imagery."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Names a real trap, but it asks the client to apply a distinction they have almost certainly never heard of."}]},{"text":[{"text":"‘Did you commission these, buy them from a library, or get them somewhere else, and could you send the licence or receipt?’"}],"correct":true,"tempting":null},{"text":[{"text":"‘Can you confirm in writing that you have the right to use these for this project?’, which creates the documented confirmation that supports the indemnity."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Worth having on file and it is what the clause needs, but a blanket confirmation reveals nothing about provenance and so prevents nothing."}]}],"order":[0,3,1,2],"why":null},"prev":{"slug":"trademark-vs-copyright","title":"What a logo client is actually buying","minutes":9},"next":{"slug":"when-someone-takes-it","title":"Your work will be stolen and the courts are not the answer","minutes":9}}}