---
name: "archive_footage_licensing"
description: "Source stock and public-domain footage legally: choose the right licence tier, verify public-domain status, clear faces, trademarks and music, and keep a clearance ledger. Use when a video needs archive clips, B-roll from stock libraries, or historical footage."
---

# Archive Footage Licensing

## Purpose
Get footage into a video without legal trouble. The job covers three things: find the footage, buy or verify the right to use it, and prove you did both. "Royalty-free" is a licence tier, not a synonym for free. Public domain means no permission needed, but the copy you download is only public domain if its copyright status actually checks out.

## Workflow
1. **Define the need.** For each clip: where it appears in the cut, how long it shows, what platform it ships on, territories, and whether it promotes a product. Promotional use raises the clearance bar sharply. See `references/clearance-checklist.md` for the decision tree.
2. **Source it.** Match the need to a source, not the other way around.
   - Need exclusivity or one-of-a-kind shots: rights-managed stock (Getty, etc.), licence scoped to the exact use.
   - Need flexible reuse across projects: royalty-free stock (one fee, broad use, no exclusivity).
   - Need free: public-domain archives (`references/archive-sources.md`). Verify each item's status individually; "uploaded as public domain" is a claim, not a fact.
   - Commercial use: only use footage whose licence covers commercial use. Editorial-only clips never go in ads, sponsorships, or branded content.
3. **Clear it.** Before locking the edit, walk every clip through the clearance checklist: model/property releases for recognisable people and private locations, trademark check for logos and signage, music check (no uncleared background music inside the clip; silent or certified-clean only for commercial use). Right-of-publicity releases must be in writing when footage promotes something.
4. **Buy and record.** Name the licensee correctly at purchase (client name, not yours, for client work; subscription licences usually cannot transfer). Download and file the licence agreement, invoice, and any release forms.
5. **Log it.** Initialise the clearance ledger and keep it current; see `bin/clearance_log.py`. If a platform flags the video later, this ledger plus the filed licences is how you win the dispute.

## Output Contract
- A `clearance_ledger.csv` covering every non-original clip in the final cut: clip id, timecode, source, licence tier, licensee, territories/term, model/property release status, music status, clearance status (cleared / pending / blocked), notes.
- Filed copies of each licence agreement and release form, named to match the ledger's clip ids.
- A go/no-go per clip: cleared clips stay, pending clips get an owner and a date, blocked clips get replaced before the video ships.

## Operating Rules
1. Never claim a clip is public domain without verifying the item's stated status at its archive page, and record the URL and access date in the ledger.
2. Never put editorial-use-only footage in commercial, promotional, or sponsored work. This includes title cards and thumbnails.
3. "Royalty-free" never means "free of obligations". Read the licence for the exclusions: resale-as-is, sensitive-use, and trademark/model-release caveats all vary by agency.
4. Faces, logos, artwork, and audible music inside a licensed clip are separate clearance problems. The stock licence covers the footage's copyright, not necessarily everything in it.
5. If you cannot verify a clip's status, treat it as blocked. A substitute shot is always cheaper than a dispute.
6. This skill is not legal advice. When real money, broadcast, or a litigious rights holder is involved, get a clearance professional or attorney.