Terms and Conditions

Thank you for your interest in using text and/or images from Nigel Hicks Images. Below are listed the terms and conditions under which we operate, and under which all materials are supplied to clients. Requests from clients for any Nigel Hicks Images product are deemed to mean that the client accepts these terms and conditions.

Copyright, licenses and fees

All prints, greetings cards, images and text supplied by Nigel Hicks Images, regardless of the format in which they are provided, are copyright Nigel Hicks, unless otherwise agreed in writing before the material is supplied.

Fees for retail purchase of greetings cards and prints are fixed and not negotiable. Payment by cheque or bank draft, made payable to 'Nigel Hicks', should be made at the time of the order being placed. Cards and/or prints will be dispatched once payment has been received. In the event of the purchaser being dissatisfied with the product, a full refund will be made provided the purchased material is returned within one month of purchase. Cards and prints may not be resold by the purchaser unless bought from Nigel Hicks Images under a bulk wholesale purchase agreement.

Fees for use of text and/or images are negotiable, the fee varying with such factors as the intended type of usage, any degree of exclusivity required, period of usage and geographical area to be covered by any publication in which the material may appear. The fee usually covers a license to allow a single use of the material, though fees covering two or more uses may be negotiated, and on occasion a royalty-free license may be granted.

A standard single use license allows the client to use images and/or text only once in a specified usage (such as in a specific issue of a particular magazine). A multi-use license allows clients to use images and/or text for a pre-agreed number of times in specified publication(s) and for a particular period of time.

A royalty-free (RF) license (only granted for specific images) will allow a client to use each RF image as many times as they like and for any use on up to four computers in the same office of their company/organisation. Such images, however, may not be passed to any third party, either within the same company/organisation or in any other company/organisation or to any other individual. Furthermore, the client does not have the right to resell the image to any other party. Copyright for all royalty-free images remains with Nigel Hicks.

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Acceptable use and limitations

Please note that use of any image or text, regardless of the type of license granted, is allowed only on the basis that none of Nigel Hicks’s text or images will be used in any way that is libellous, slanderous, pornographic, or in any other way illegal.

Text may be edited to fit the space available in the intended publication or to render it consistent with a publication’s style and content, but it may not be edited to falsify information or in any way significantly alter the meaning of the text as originally supplied by Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography.

Images my be cropped to help them fit a page or to enhance impact or aesthetic attractiveness. They may also be digitally manipulated to enhance impact or aesthetic attractiveness, but they may not be altered in such a way as to falsify the true situation shown by the images.

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Supply of text and images

Text will normally be supplied as a Microsoft Word document, either on disk or sent by e-mail, unless otherwise requested by the client.

Images can be supplied either as original transparencies (35mm, 6x4.5cm or 6x7cm formats) or high quality digital files, sent by mail or courier. Compressed digital files (in jpeg format) may also be e-mailed. Clients should clarify at the time of commissioning how they would like to have images sent to them, if they have any preference. All transparency images can also be supplied as high quality digital files, but images shot on a digital camera cannot be output to film. Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography ensures that all images, whether digital or transparency, are in good condition, suitable for publication, prior to sending out to clients.

Return of materials

The client is responsible for the safe-keeping of all text and images supplied by Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography, and of ensuring that images remain in good condition. This is especially crucial for transparencies as damage to these has a direct impact on the future business of Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography. Clients are encouraged to ensure that all staff and any third parties who may handle the transparencies as part of any project understand how to handle transparencies carefully.

At the end of a project, or as soon as materials are no longer needed (whichever is the sooner), all transparencies should be returned by a safe means to Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography. Text and digital images need not be returned (unless otherwise requested by Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography), but at the expiry of the agreed license the disks and any hard copies should be destroyed. Low resolution (up to 98 dpi) digital images may be retained for future reference.

All transparencies damaged, lost or not returned for any reason will be subject to compensation, to be paid by the client to Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography, at a rate of £750 per image (plus VAT for those clients within the UK). A damaged image is defined as one that bears marks, scratches, tears or nicks, not present when sent out by Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography, that render it difficult or impossible to use in any future projects.

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Payment of fees

The timing of fee payments can be negotiated for each project between the client and Nigel Hicks Images.

For large specially commissioned photography projects one third of the agreed fee should be paid in advance (upon conclusion of the agreement and signing of any contract), with the remainder to be paid following submission of the completed photography.

The same schedule of payments is generally expected for book commissions (for supply of text and/or images), though a third payment following publication may also be agreed. If payments for a book project are seen as an advance on future post-publication royalties (rather than simply as a fee) then royalty percentages and a sales reporting schedule also need to be agreed.

Payment for magazine usage, whether text, images or text/image packages, should normally be made following submission, though for some magazines it may be possible to agree a delay in payment until publication.

Payment for supply of stock images for any other project should be made as soon as the client has finalised which images (and hence how many) are going to be used, though once again it may also be possible to agree for payment to be delayed until publication.

Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography will issue invoices for all fees due (plus VAT for clients in the UK), and these should be settled within 30 days either by cheque or by direct transfer into the Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography bank account (in the UK known as BACS payment). Fees will normally be quoted in Pounds Sterling, but other currencies can be used by mutual agreement.

Project conclusion

Following conclusion of each project we would be grateful if copies of published materials containing text and/or images supplied by Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography could be sent to us. This is purely for our own reference and enjoyment!

Legal interpretation

Nigel Hicks Writing and Photography is based in the United Kingdom, and as such these terms and conditions are interpreted by and subject to the laws of England and Wales.

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