Know where your images come from. Keep a record of how you can use them.
The imageRelease Rights Check API connects your website, CMS or picture desk to the imageRelease trust ledger, helping your organisation check incoming images, record their origins and maintain a clear history of the content you use.
Every image you register adds to your organisation's record, building a more complete picture of your visual content and the rights associated with it over time.
Take control of your image rights
Organisations handle thousands of images across websites, campaigns and digital platforms. Some are commissioned, some are licensed, others arrive through contributors, members, agencies or third-party feeds.
Keeping track of where they came from, who supplied them and how they can be used isn't always straightforward.
The imageRelease Rights Check API brings that information together, helping you establish a consistent approach to image governance without changing the way your team works.
Check incoming images
Check an image against the growing imageRelease rights ledger before it is published.
Where an existing record is found, the API can identify whether your organisation holds rights to use it and return the relevant licence information, including usage dates, territory, AI permissions and credit requirements.
If an image is registered to another organisation, you can flag it for review without exposing anyone's private information.
If no matching record exists, you know that further information may be needed before proceeding.
Register the images you use
Create a record of the images your organisation receives, publishes and manages.
Each registration captures where the image came from and the rights information supplied by the person or system uploading it.
This might include:
Images created or owned by your organisation.
Images supplied under a licence or agreement.
Images sourced through open licences, such as Creative Commons.
Images received through contributors, members or third-party feeds.
Images where the source or rights are currently unknown.
Rather than relying on scattered emails, assumptions or incomplete records, your organisation can begin building a consistent history of its visual content.
Keep your records up to date
Image rights and usage can change.
The API allows records to be updated as new information becomes available, retaining the history of previous declarations and recording when an image is no longer in use.
If a record is created in error, it can also be withdrawn.
Over time, this creates a valuable organisational resource, connecting the images you use with their origins, permissions and usage history.
Identify potential issues before publication
By checking images before registering them, your existing publishing workflow can identify potential rights conflicts.
Where an image matches an existing registration, it can be flagged for editorial review before publication.
This gives your team an opportunity to resolve uncertainty rather than discovering a problem after an image has gone live.
A growing, connected rights ledger
Every image registered through imageRelease contributes to a growing rights ledger, connecting visual content with the information needed to manage its use responsibly.
This includes photography agreements, model and property releases, usage licences, rights requests and images registered directly through connected websites and platforms.
The value starts with your own records and grows as more images and organisations become connected.
The technology works behind the scenes:
Image recognition: Images are fingerprinted, allowing the system to identify matching content even when files have been resized, re-saved or cropped, subject to matching confidence.
Connected rights information: Existing agreements, releases and licences can be linked to registered imagery.
Clear responses: Checks return actionable information about known rights, permissions and any areas requiring further investigation.
Privacy by design: Organisations retain control of their private information, with access to detailed rights and licence records restricted to authorised parties.
Manual verification: Teams can also check individual images using the imageRelease Verify page.
An image not appearing in the ledger doesn't mean it is free to use. It simply means no matching registration has been found.
As more organisations register their content, the ledger becomes an increasingly useful shared resource for checking and managing visual rights.
Integrate image governance into your existing workflow
The Rights Check API is designed to work with the platforms organisations already use, bringing rights management into everyday publishing and content processes.
Our first integration is for Umbraco, with the API available for other CMS, DAM and picture-desk platforms.
imageRelease for Umbraco
Bring image rights management directly into your Umbraco website.
Once installed and configured, the integration can automatically register images as they enter your site, whether they are uploaded by editors, submitted by members or received through external feeds.
What it provides:
Automatic registration: Build a record of the images entering your website without introducing additional manual administration.
Rights declarations: Capture where an image came from, who supplied it and what permissions have been declared.
Pre-publication checks: Identify potential conflicts with existing registrations and hold images for review where necessary.
Rights information for editors: Access an image's current rights status, declaration history and associated information directly within Umbraco.
Library overview: Identify images awaiting review, missing declarations or requiring attention.
Support when claims arise: Locate image records using references, URLs or uploader information, making it easier to investigate and respond to rights enquiries.
Third-party content management: Record images received through external feeds without incorrectly claiming ownership.
Privacy controls: Keep personal information within your own platform, using references rather than storing member names and contact details in the ledger.
The integration is already running on two of our own publishing platforms, LeftLion and Notts.com, handling images from editors, members and external feeds.
Other platforms
The same functionality can be integrated into other content management, digital asset management and publishing systems through the Rights Check API.
Tell us which platform your organisation uses and we'll explore how imageRelease can work with your existing processes.
Who is it for?
Publishers and news organisations
Build a reliable record of published imagery, manage contributor declarations and identify potential rights issues before publication.
Marketing agencies and brands
Keep track of commissioned and licensed imagery, confirm usage permissions and maintain a clear record of the content used across campaigns.
Platforms with user-generated content
Capture rights declarations from contributors, maintain individual records and manage potential disputes without taking ownership of members' declarations.
Photographers and studios
Register your work and connect it with the relevant agreements and permissions, making it recognisable when checked against the ledger.
Developers and platform providers
Integrate image checking and registration into existing systems through a single API, with test access, documentation and clear responses.
Privacy and security
The Rights Check API is designed to maintain useful records while limiting the information collected and shared.
Images submitted for checking are compared and discarded. Borderline matches may retain a small copy for up to 90 days for manual verification.
Registered images retain a reference copy for future matching, deleted after two years.
Uploaders are identified through organisational references rather than personal details.
Private agreements and licence information remain accessible only to authorised parties.
Each organisation has its own API keys, with separate test and live environments.
API activity is logged for security and support, with logs automatically deleted after 180 days.
Getting started
We're currently working with our first integration partners and providing API access by arrangement.
Whether you want to introduce image checking, register your organisation's content or integrate rights management into an existing platform, we'd be happy to discuss your requirements.
1. Talk to us
Tell us about your organisation, the images you handle and the systems you use. We'll agree the right level of access.
2. Test your integration
Use a dedicated test environment to develop and evaluate your integration without affecting the live ledger.
3. Go live
Connect your platform and begin checking and registering images as part of your existing workflow.
For developers
The imageRelease Rights Check API is a REST API using HTTPS and JSON responses, with an OpenAPI specification.
It supports image checking, registration, updates, usage history and organisational access management, with scoped API keys, rate limits and separate test and live environments.
Full technical documentation, including endpoints, authentication and response formats, is available in our developer reference.