A copyright to an original work exists the moment the work is fixed in a medium. However, registering the copyright provides several advantages. It is in your best interest to protect your copyrighted images yourself by contacting the U.S. Copyright Office or the local copyright office in your area or country. Check out Understanding the Basics of Copyrights for more information.
Copyright gives the author(s) of a creative work the exclusive right to display, reproduce, distribute, and financially benefit from the work they create. As a Shutterstock contributor you retain full copyright ownership of your content, but you allow Shutterstock to license the content on your behalf. This article provides more information on this topic: What You Need To Know About Licensing Your Work. For further details please refer to the latest Contributor Terms of Service.
If you believe that an image on Shutterstock is infringing upon your copyright, please send a DMCA Notice to the Legal Department using this form.
If you are not the copyright owner to content you believe is being infringed, please write to infringementclaims@shutterstock.com with the following information:
Identification of the original works you believe are being infringed (website URLs or Shutterstock content ID numbers); and
Shutterstock content ID numbers for the content you believe is infringing.
Please note that Shutterstock requires both sets of information (original vs. allegedly infringing) to investigate infringement issues adequately. We cannot fairly or accurately investigate problematic accounts with just screenshots or account names; we require information to specifically compare original content to infringing content. Shutterstock only requires a few examples to make an assessment of problematic contributor accounts. Shutterstock cannot provide an update for every claim it receives, but please know that Shutterstock evaluates and takes actions for claims, as required by both the DMCA and its own internal investigation process.