Licence Agreement

Last updated: 21 April 2026

This is the licence that comes with every photo or video you buy from Big Shot Theory. Two tiers — Standard and Extended — both royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, and non-exclusive. The tier you bought is printed on your Polar receipt and in your account area.

1. Parties

This agreement is between you (“Licensee”) and BST studio s. r. o. (trading as Big Shot Theory; “we”, “us”, “the Studio”), a Slovak limited-liability company, IČO 54663831, seat Pri vojenskom cintoríne 4093/10, 851 01 Bratislava – mestská časť Petržalka, Slovakia. Full identification on imprint.

2. Grant of licence

On payment of the price shown at checkout, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, perpetual right to use the file (the “Asset”) for the permitted uses listed under the tier you purchased. Copyright in the Asset remains with us.

3. What's delivered

• The spec card is the contract. Every photo and video page shows the exact resolution, codec, colour profile, and file type directly under the preview. That card is what you get on delivery — no lower-res downgrade, no gated “HD vs 4K” tier. If a photo lists 50 MP, you get 50 MP; if a video lists 4K / ProRes 422 HQ, you get 4K / ProRes 422 HQ.
• Resolution, aspect ratio, and bitrate are not gated behind the Extended tier. The only difference between Standard and Extended is the scope of permitted use (see sections 4 & 5) — the underlying file is identical.
• Files are delivered digitally through a signed download link sent to the email on your order, available indefinitely from your account area.
• Camera-RAW / log masters (CR3, ARW, NEF, DNG for photo; S-Log3 MOV, ProRes RAW for video) are available on request as an add-on — price is quoted per asset via the contact form.

4. Standard licence — permitted uses

For single-project use by one brand, product, or end client:

• Websites, blog posts, digital ads, social media (organic + paid).
• Editorial articles, printed magazines, newspapers.
• Book & e-book interior illustrations, up to 500,000 copies.
• Presentations, pitch decks, internal training, podcasts, video thumbnails.
• Physical marketing collateral — posters, flyers, packaging — up to 500,000 units.
• Single-venue out-of-home advertising for up to 12 months.

5. Extended licence — everything in Standard, plus

• Products-for-resale — merchandise, prints, templates, stock-on- stock, NFTs (see section 7 for carve-outs), apparel, phone cases, etc.
• Unlimited print runs, unlimited ad impressions.
• Multi-brand / agency-wide use across multiple end clients.
• Film, TV, streaming content, in-game assets, and other commercial productions with an unlimited audience.
• Out-of-home advertising with no venue or duration cap.

6. Both tiers — modifications & derivatives

You may crop, retouch, recolour, composite, re-cut, and otherwise edit the Asset as needed for your project. The resulting derivative is yours to use under the same licence tier — you don't need a new licence for each edited version.

7. Prohibited uses (both tiers)

• Re-licensing or reselling the Asset as-is — you can't upload it to another stock marketplace or include it in a template pack where the image itself is the product.
• Training machine-learning models, generative AI, or building datasets. Neither tier includes AI-training rights. Contact us for a bespoke agreement.
• Defamatory, obscene, or unlawful contexts — any use that would injure the reputation of a person, product, or place depicted in the Asset. Pair depicted people with sensitive topics (mental health, addiction, legal issues, sexual content, political endorsements, disease) only with our written permission.
• Identifying branded products in a way that implies endorsement by the brand, even if the logo is visible in-frame.
• Trademark or logo applications. The Asset cannot form the primary, distinctive element of a trademark, wordmark, or logo.
• Blockchain / NFT restrictions: under an Extended licence you may mint NFTs of derivative works you've clearly transformed; minting the raw Asset unchanged is not permitted.
• Uses that violate the rights of the people or property shown — we've secured the releases for the permitted uses above, but nothing more.

8. Model & property releases

Most of our people-and-place photography carries signed model and property releases valid for commercial use. Where a release isn't available (e.g. some candid street or editorial shoots), the Asset is marked Editorial only on its detail page and may not be used in advertising or for anything that implies endorsement. The Editorial-only flag travels with the file in your download and cannot be cleared by upgrading to Extended.

9. Credit

Credit is not required but always appreciated. When you do credit us, the preferred form is: “Photo/Video by Big Shot Theory — bigshottheory.com”. For editorial uses where your publication's style guide requires credit, please include it inline with the image.

10. Sublicensing & transfer

The licence is issued to you (or the company paying on your behalf, if a company VAT-ID was entered at checkout). You may:

• Deliver the Asset to a production partner (agency, printer, developer) solely to complete the permitted use — they act as your subcontractor and are bound by this agreement;
• Transfer the licence once to a successor entity in connection with a sale of your business, provided you notify us in writing.

Beyond that the licence is non-transferable.

11. Our warranties

We warrant that we own the copyright in the Asset or have secured all rights needed to licence it to you under your tier, and that the Asset does not infringe the copyright of any third party when used within the permitted uses. We've obtained any model and property releases required for those permitted uses.

12. Our indemnity

If a third party brings a claim against you alleging that an Asset used strictly within the terms of this licence infringes their copyright, trademark, or right of privacy, we will indemnify you for your direct damages and reasonable legal costs, capped at €10,000 per Asset for the Standard licence and €100,000 per Asset for the Extended licence. To claim you must (a) tell us in writing within 10 business days, (b) give us sole control of the defence, and (c) not settle without our consent. The cap doesn't apply to liabilities we can't exclude under mandatory law.

13. Your indemnity

If you use an Asset outside the permitted uses and a third party sues us as a result, you will cover our reasonable legal costs and any damages awarded. This clause only applies to business customers, not consumers.

14. Breach & termination

If you materially breach this licence (for example, using an Editorial-only Asset in advertising, or feeding Assets into an AI training set) we may terminate the licence on written notice. You must then stop all use of the Asset and, where reasonably practical, remove it from material already published. Termination doesn't limit other remedies available to us, including statutory damages for copyright infringement.

15. Governing law

This licence is governed by the laws of the Slovak Republic. Disputes go to the courts of Bratislava. Nothing in this licence takes away rights you have under mandatory consumer law in your home country.

16. Whole agreement

This document, together with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, is the whole agreement between us in relation to the Asset. If any part of it is held unenforceable, the rest remains in force.