Commercial and Non-Commercial Use Licences

Commercial Use licenses are issued by the Royal Armouries Licensing department and any such licence will specify the specific terms of Your licence including rates, territory and term. The following Royal Armouries Licensing Terms and conditions will apply to all Commercial Use licences involving the Use of Content in which Royal Armouries owns the Intellectual Property Rights but please note that this Appendix does not confer upon You any right to make any Commercial Use of Our Content as any such licence must be agreed and signed by both You and Royal Armouries.

Commercial use requests should be directed to: licensing@armouries.org.uk

Postal requests must be addressed to:
Licencing Department
Royal Armouries
Armouries Drive
Leeds LS10 1LT
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 113 220 1832
Fax: +44 (0) 113 220 1871

What does Commercial Use mean? 

The basic rule is that all Use that is not Non-Commercial Use will be Commercial Use. If You have any doubt as to whether Your intended Use is a Commercial Use or not it would be sensible to assume that it is Commercial Use and get in touch with us.

If you use our content to promote a business or commercial endeavour which does charge (regardless of whether a profit or surplus is made) you will need to contact the licensing department at licensing@armouries.org.uk for a commercial use license.

This includes but is not limited to commercial activities such as merchandise production, use of images, film or sound editorially in films or on television, in publications that are sold, in advertisements and commercial promotions, the Royal Armouries would usually regard the following uses of Content as Commercial Uses:

• use online or in print by commercial organisations, including (for the avoidance of doubt) trading arms of charities
• use on an individual’s website in such a way that adds value to their business, or for promotional purposes, or where offering a service to third parties (including social media)
• use by university presses in publications online or in print
• use in publicity and promotional material connected with commercial events
• unsolicited use of images by news media, including front covers and centre-page spreads
• use in commercial publications
• use in company or charity annual reports
• use in compilations of past examination papers
• use by commercial galleries and auction houses
• use by universities for student or staff recruitment or business development

Under charity law, conflicts can arise when one charity is seen as assisting another. Therefore Royal Armouries needs to treat other charities (and their trading arms) as if they were “commercial” organisations.

In some cases, for example where We receive a request for the Commercial Use of Our Content or Our Crown Copyright Content in computer games, permission to make Commercial Use will be subject to the approval of the Royal Armouries ethics committee who will decide if the Use requested complies with the principles set out in this document and is otherwise lawful and appropriate. The decision of the Royal Armouries ethics committee is final.

What rates will You be charged for the Commercial Use of Our Content?

Please contact the licensing department at licensing@armouries.org.uk for our standard rates for the commercial use of Royal Armouries Content.
 

Terms and Conditions

1. These Terms and Conditions incorporate the definitions and other provisions set out in the main body of this Royal Armouries Website and Copyright Use Statement.
2. Royal Armouries will grant you a non‑exclusive licence to make Commercial Use of the Content in which Royal Armouries owns the IPR subject to the conditions below and otherwise set out in the licence that We and You enter into. For the avoidance of doubt, Royal Armouries will not grant You an exclusive licence to Use its Content.
3. You must not do anything which is prohibited under the section of this document entitled “Restrictions on Your Use of Content”.
4. The Royal Armouries reserves the publication right in all Content made available through its Image Library, whether or not they have been previously published in any form and to the extent that You generate any such publication right through Your Commercial Use of Our Content You shall assign all such publication right to Us and We shall licence it back to You on these terms.
5. The sections in Our Non‑Commercial Licence (and Crown Copyright Licence) entitled “Exemptions”, “No Warranty” and “Governing Law” shall apply equally to Your licence to make Commercial Use of Our Content.
6. The Royal Armouries operates a pro‑forma invoicing system and payment must be received before any Content or permissions are sent. Payment should be made within 30 days of invoicing, and failure to do so will automatically result in the cancellation of any licence, discounts or special agreements.
7. All fees must be made payable to The Royal Armouries in sterling. The Royal Armouries can also accept payment by Visa or Mastercard.
8. On full payment of the invoice, reproduction rights are granted to You, as specified on the invoice. Any Commercial Use of Our Content before full payment of the invoice constitutes an infringement of IPR, and renders You liable for the payment of damages.
9. No rights granted may be assigned, transferred or sub‑licensed by You without Our prior written consent.
10. You will indemnify the Royal Armouries against any damage, losses or harm caused by Your unauthorised Use of the Content.
11. In the event of Your insolvency, bankruptcy or death no transfer of ownership in rights or materials from the Royal Armouries shall be deemed to have occurred.
12. Rights granted by the Royal Armouries are strictly limited to the Use, the term and the territory specified on the invoice. All reprints, further editions or reuse of the Content in another project require new application and are not covered by the original payment.
13. The Royal Armouries reserves the right to request a colour proof of any reproduction of Content prior to printing, and to withhold the right to reproduce Content if the quality of the reproduction falls below the standard set by Royal Armouries.
14. Content must not be reversed, masked out, cut down, superimposed with type matter or in any way defaced or manipulated without the prior written consent of the Royal Armouries. If You do so You will be liable for the payment of damages.
15. Applications to reproduce a detail or a cropped image will only be considered upon receipt of a proof of the reproduction. The caption must include the word ‘Detail’.
16. You must include an accurate Attribution and if You do not You will be charged additional fees.
17. The Royal Armouries’ inventory number must be included in any caption. If You reproduce Content without the correct inventory number You will be charged additional fees.
18. At least one complimentary copy of each publication that includes Content must be forwarded to the Royal Armouries for Our records.
19. Rights granted by the Royal Armouries shall permit You to:
    • include the relevant Content in Your products
    • record and/or hold the relevant Content on an electronic database under Your control for the purposes of developing and producing Your products
    • reproduce the Content once as part of Your products for a strictly limited production run and/or until the expiry of the strictly limited licence period
    • distribute Your product containing the Content within the specified territory
20. Where the licence covers the Use of the Content within a computer program the program must be designed in such a way that users will not be allowed to alter, manipulate, or adapt the Content or extract or make copies of the Content.
21. The display of Content on‑screen shall be accompanied by:
    • a copyright notice prohibiting the reproduction, transmission, performance, display, rental, lending or storage of the Content in any form or in any retrieval system without the written consent of the copyright holders
    • an agreed Accreditation, in a place to be jointly agreed
    • the Royal Armouries’ inventory number
22. You may not copy or record any version of the Content other than those delivered by the Royal Armouries for this purpose.
23. Content must not be adapted or altered or in any way manipulated without the prior written consent of the Royal Armouries. If You do so You will be liable for payment of damages.
24. You shall ensure that any third parties involved in the development or production of any product or website involving the use of the Content, including subcontractors, are bound by the terms of the licence granted by the Royal Armouries.
25. You shall inform the Royal Armouries of any unauthorised use of any of the Content as soon as You become aware of the same.
26. On the termination of the rights granted by the Royal Armouries all copies or records of the Content made shall be destroyed by You, such action to be confirmed to the Royal Armouries in writing.
27. Rights granted by the Royal Armouries in relation to any use of the Content on agreed websites shall permit You:
    • to record and/or hold relevant Content on an electronic database under Your control
    • to reproduce the Content once as part of the website until expiry of the strictly limited licence period
    • to allow visitors to the website to browse and view the Content
28. Any website that includes the Content will be designed in such a way that visitors to the website shall not be allowed:
    • to alter, manipulate, or adapt the Content
    • to make copies of the Content
    • to access the recordings of the Content as individual files during the normal course of using the website
29. The display of Content on‑screen shall be accompanied by:
    • a copyright notice prohibiting the reproduction, transmission, performance, display, rental, lending or storage of the image in any form or in any retrieval system without the written consent of the IPR holders
    • an agreed Accreditation
    • the Royal Armouries’ inventory number
    • a hypertext link to the Royal Armouries’ website
30. You shall allow the Royal Armouries full access to inspect the website for the duration of the licence and shall supply all necessary passwords free of charge.
31. The Royal Armouries may revoke the license at any time if You are in breach of any of terms and conditions.
32. Applications to reproduce objects on loan to the Royal Armouries should be sent to the Image Library in the first instance. Photographic material may not be sent until the owner has granted their permission and any fees have been paid. The Royal Armouries does not charge any reproduction fees on loan objects if the owners do so, but will impose a handling charge for administration.

Download the Commercial Use Licence (pdf, 172 KB)

In principle, any Use of Content that is not intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation or otherwise the furtherance of professional or commercial agendas is likely to be ‘Non-Commercial’. For the avoidance of doubt Royal Armouries may consider the following Uses of Our Content or Our Crown Copyright Content as Non-Commercial Use:

• non-commercial research 
• private study 
• lawful and honest criticism and review 
• Use within an educational establishment (such as a school, college or university) such as in free educational lectures and classes
• for the purposes of an educational examination, by a recognised UK exam authority downloading Royal Armouries film and sound recordings for offline listening or viewing for personal use (format shifting)
• downloading and printing of Royal Armouries learning content and whiteboard resources for non-commercial educational use
• embedding links to Royal Armouries film and sound recordings in free to access newsfeeds, blogs, news or general information websites or on social media, where embedding is offered
• embedding or loading Royal Armouries news feeds (RSS)

Statutory exceptions to copyright also apply in certain situations. It is Your responsibility to satisfy Yourself that an exception (such as fair dealing criticism and review, quotation, or reporting a current event) applies. These terms and conditions do not seek to limit your statutory rights.

You are encouraged to Use:

• Content in which Royal Armouries owns the IPR; and
• Our Crown Copyright Content

Upon the following Terms and Conditions and when you make any Non-Commercial Use of Our Content, or make any Use of Our Crown Copyright, which is not otherwise permitted by law You will be deemed to have accepted these Terms and Conditions by Your conduct.

If You do not accept these Terms and Conditions please refrain from making any Non-Commercial Use of Our Content or any Use of Our Crown Copyright Content, which is not otherwise permitted by law.

These Terms and Conditions incorporate the definitions and other provisions set out in the main body of this Royal Armouries Website and Copyright Use Statement.

Your Non-Commercial Use Licence in Respect of Our Content

Royal Armouries grants you a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to make Non-Commercial Use only of the Content in which Royal Armouries owns the IPR subject to the conditions below. The Royal Armouries reserves the right to terminate this licence upon reasonable notice.

For the avoidance of doubt, where the Royal Armouries owns the IPR in any Content You are not permitted to exercise any of the rights granted to You by this licence in any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation or gain.

Your Licence to Use Our Crown Copyright Content

Royal Armouries grants you a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to make Commercial Use or Non-Commercial Use of Our Crown Copyright Content subject to the conditions below. The Royal Armouries reserves the right to terminate this licence upon reasonable notice.

The rest of this licence applies to your Non-Commercial Use of Our Content and all use of Our Crown Copyright Content.

You must not do anything which is prohibited under the section of this document entitled “Restrictions on Your Use of Content”.

You must, where You make any Non-Commercial Use of the Our Content or any Use of Our Crown Copyright Content:

• acknowledge the source of the Content by including an Attribution provided that if you are using Content from several rights owners and sources and therefore listing multiple attributions is not practical in your product or application, you may include a URL or hyperlink to a resource that contains the required attribution statements
• ensure that where Content is Used the source of the Content is also identified alongside the Attribution, e.g. ‘Title, Artist, Date of Work, Photo’
• ensure that any onward licensing of the Content – for example where You permit Your work which includes reference to Our Content or Our Crown Copyright Content alongside other Content to be Used by Third Parties – is also subject to these terms

These are important conditions of this licence and if You fail to comply with them or make Commercial Use of Our Content without Our prior written consent the rights granted to you under this licence will terminate automatically.

Exemptions

This licence to make Non-Commercial Use of Our Content and/or Commercial Use and Non Commercial use of Our Crown Copyright Content along with Our licence to make Commercial Use of Our Content does/will not cover the Use of:

• any personal data within the Content
• any information that has neither been published nor disclosed to You under information access legislation (including the FOI Regime) by or with the consent of the Royal Armouries
• departmental or public sector organisation logos, crests, military insignia and the Royal Arms except where they form an integral part of a document or dataset within Our Content
• Third Party IPR (other than Our Crown Copyright Content) which the Royal Armouries is not authorised to license
• identity documents such as the British Passport.

No Warranty

The Content is licensed ‘as is’ and the Royal Armouries excludes all representations, warranties, obligations and liabilities in relation to the Content to the maximum extent permitted by law.

The Royal Armouries is not liable for any errors or omissions in the Content (including errors or omissions resulting from Our negligence) and shall not be liable for any loss, injury or damage of any kind caused by its Use. The Royal Armouries does not guarantee the continued supply of Content.

Governing Law

This licence is governed by the laws of the jurisdiction of England & Wales.

About This Licence

The Royal Armouries has adapted this licence from the Non-Commercial Government Licence developed by the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationary Office. The Controller may, from time to time, issue new versions of the Non-Commercial Government Licence. However, You may continue to Use Content licensed under this version should you wish to do so.

Further context, best practice and guidance can be found in the UK Government Licensing Framework section on The National Archives Website.

Download the Non-Commercial Licence (pdf, 166KB)