copyright information for image repositories (schema.org, json-ld)

Question

This is not exactly a technical question, it's about understanding the elements of CreativeWork and ImageObject in schema.org.

When creating structured data for an image, there are some attributes I can use to convey the copyright information, notably:

• creator
• copyrightHolder
• license

This looks quite straightforward for me (even considering the legal differences of "copyright" in the Anglo-American and European worlds).

What I'm looking for is how to include the copyright information from pictures bought on image repositories like iStock. The information provided looks like: istock.com ©acreator ID-000000000.

How is this information meant to be used with schema.org?

As copyrightHolder is meant to be a Person or Organization, using the string 'istock.com ©someone' as the person's or organisation's name doesn't seem to be the right thing to do.

So I came up with this JSON-LD code:

[
  {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "ImageObject",
    "contentUrl": "https://path/to/my/image",
    "copyrightHolder": {
      "name": "istock.com"
    },
    "creator": {
      "name": "someone"
    },
    "copyrightNotice": "istock.com ©acreator ID-000000000",
    "license": "https://www.istockphoto.com/en/legal/license-agreement"
  }
]

I'm still not sure where to put the ID of the image, and also I'm not happy using the id on istock.com as "name" attribute for "creator".

I could also only use the copyrightNotice and not use "creator" and "copyrightHolder" but I'm not sure if I'd meet the legal requirement then.

Answer 1

The schema.org information not really related to any legal requirement issues (It is vocabulary for search engines).

The credit should be visible to the user (With -or- Without schema) if the license requires adding a credit (Who is the copyrightHolder VS creator also not related to schema.org).

More important:

Don't mark up content that is not visible to readers of the page. Google Guidelines

So only add structured data that visible to the users. I guess you don't have in your web design clickable text to istock license (So you don't need to add this).

Even creditText could be enough.

Example (The markup visible to readers):

Basic example - Withtout

<img src="italy-beach.jpg" alt="italy beach."/>

By Jane Doe
copyrights istock.com. Author Leonardo

Basic example - With

<div itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject">
  <img src="italy-beach.jpg"
  alt="italy beach."
  itemprop="contentUrl" />
  By <span itemprop="author">Jane Doe</span>
  copyrights <span itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Organization" itemprop="copyrightHolder"><span itemprop="name">istock.com</span> Author: <span>Leonardo</span>
</div>

---

image id

You can use https://schema.org/identifier.