Image Licence: Creative Commons Zero (CC0)
All images in the LinkDaddy Media public commons are released under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 Universal licence. This means you can use, copy, modify, and distribute them for any purpose — commercial or personal — without asking permission, without paying a fee, and without providing attribution.
What CC0 means in plain English
CC0 is not a licence in the traditional sense. It is a waiver. The rights holder — in this case, LinkDaddy Media — permanently and irrevocably waives all copyright and related rights to the images in the public commons. This includes the right to be attributed, the right to control how the images are used, and the right to receive payment for their use.
In jurisdictions where a complete copyright waiver is not legally possible, CC0 operates as a broad, irrevocable licence granting you all rights that can be granted. The practical effect is the same: you can use the images for any purpose without restriction.
Use commercially
Modify or adapt
Use without attribution
Distribute freely
Use on client websites
Use in print materials
Resell the images as-is
You cannot resell the raw image files as a stock photo product
Claim copyright yourself
You cannot claim copyright over the original CC0 image
Why we chose CC0 for the public commons
We chose CC0 because it is the only licence that completely eliminates copyright risk for the businesses using these images. Attribution requirements create compliance burdens. Non-commercial restrictions limit usefulness. Share-alike clauses create complications for websites. CC0 has none of these problems.
We also chose CC0 because it is the correct choice for a public image commons intended to help local businesses. These businesses are not image lawyers. They should not need to be. CC0 means they can download an image, use it on their website, and never think about it again.
AI-generated images and copyright
The images in the LinkDaddy Media public commons are generated by AI. Under current US copyright law (as clarified by the US Copyright Office in 2023), AI-generated images without sufficient human authorship are not eligible for copyright protection. This is consistent with our CC0 dedication — there is no copyright to waive.
Images generated for paid plan subscribers (not published to the public commons) are created specifically for that subscriber's business. The subscriber owns the output and may use it as they see fit, including hardening it with their own EXIF metadata and publishing it on their website.
Formal CC0 dedication
To the extent possible under law, LinkDaddy Media has waived all copyright and related or neighbouring rights to the images in the LinkDaddy Media public image commons. This work is published from the United States of America.