Your Copyright Representations to Shutterstock
When you signed up to be a Shutterstock contributor, you agreed in the Shutterstock Submitter Terms of Service that you would only submit content to which you own or control the copyright. This means that you represented to Shutterstock that you were the creator and copyright owner of the content - for example, that you took the photograph, drew the illustration, or shot the video that you submitted to Shutterstock. Or, you represented that you were given permission from the copyright owner to submit their content through Shutterstock.
Reasons Your Account May Have Been Closed
Content found on the internet, whether it be from a Google image search, a “free to use site” (such as Unsplash.com, Pexels.com, etc.), public domain content, or from a site which offers a “resale license”, cannot be submitted, in whole or in part, to Shutterstock. Submitting such content is a breach of your representations in the Shutterstock Submitter Terms of Service.
Your contributor account may be closed for infringement when it appears you may not own or control the copyright to content submitted to Shutterstock. Some examples for account closure include:
It appears you might be submitting content to which you don’t own or control the copyright.
You have submitted content that a different contributor has already submitted to Shutterstock.
Shutterstock has received multiple DMCA Notices against your content.
When your Shutterstock account has been closed due to copyright infringement issues with your content, you will receive an email from submit@shutterstock.com. That email will have the specifics as to why your account has been disabled, including the ID numbers of the assets in question.
How to Submit an Account Appeal to Shutterstock
If you believe you have only submitted content to which you own or control the copyright and that your account has been disabled incorrectly, you may submit an account appeal that our Intellectual Property Team will review.
In order to submit an account appeal, we require evidence of your copyright ownership to the images at issue, such as: 1) other images or outtakes taken from the same photoshoot; 2) proof of copyright registration; or 3) other evidence that substantiates that you are the copyright holder.
Send your proof of copyright ownership to compliance@shutterstock.com with the subject “Account Appeal”, and we will respond if you successfully appeal your account status. Please note that if you fail to provide Shutterstock with adequate proof of copyright ownership as described above, you will not receive a response from Shutterstock.
In order to expedite review of your appeal, be sure to include the reference number listed at the bottom of the account termination email you originally received.
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