UGC Usage Rights in Portugal: What You Are Actually Selling

The message that closes nine deals out of ten names a price, a date and a number of videos. It names one of the four things you are selling.

The licence has four dimensions, the price names one

What you sell comes down to four questions: what they receive, where it runs, for how long, and whether you can shoot for a competitor. The usual message answers the first and leaves the other three open. That is exactly where the money is lost, and it is the only thing to fix.

What they receive exactly

Six elements to name, one by one.

The number of edited videos.

The length of each, and the formats delivered.

The derived versions, vertical, square, short.

Any stills extracted from them.

The raw files, granted or not.

And the subtitles, burnt in or supplied separately.

Where the videos run

Seven destinations, to authorise or to exclude.

The brand's main account.

Secondary accounts, by country or by range.

Paid advertising, on each platform concerned.

The brand's website and its product pages.

The marketplaces where it sells.

Emails and automated messages.

And the accounts of resellers and distributors.

For how long

Six markers for setting a duration that holds.

Three months for a test, rarely less.

Six months for a seasonal campaign.

Twelve months for genuine advertising use.

An unlimited duration, only against a price that reflects it.

The starting point, delivery or first release.

And what happens at the end, removal or written renewal.

Whether you can shoot for a competitor

Six levels of exclusivity, from the lightest to the heaviest.

No restriction, the default case.

Exclusivity on the exact product.

Exclusivity on the sub-category.

Exclusivity on the whole category.

Exclusivity limited in time, three or six months.

And geographic exclusivity, rarer and dearer.

What silence gives away

Silence never protects the person delivering. With nothing written, each side applies its own reading, and the side that distributes is the one that decides in practice. The fix does not need a ten-page contract: three lines in the message turn a grey area into a clear agreement.

Three lines to add to the message you were about to send

Three sentences, to copy as they are.

This delivery covers the accounts you named, organically.

The licence runs twelve months from delivery, renewable in writing.

Paid advertising and category exclusivity are possible, priced separately.

When they say it is just for socials

Six short answers, chosen to match the tone of the exchange.

Ask which accounts exactly, and have them named.

Ask whether a paid boost is being considered.

Offer a short duration, with renewal available.

Give the price with and without advertising, in the same message.

Accept organic only, but put it in writing.

And note that a second use is renegotiated, without turning it into a fight.

How to price each dimension

Seven pricing markers, to adapt to your market.

The base price covers production and organic use.

Paid advertising is charged as a percentage of the base price.

Each additional platform adds a share.

Duration beyond twelve months is charged in blocks.

Category exclusivity is the dearest line.

Raw files are charged separately, if granted at all.

And any request arriving after delivery is treated as a new sale.

The message a year later

Six reasons why that message is the easiest money of your year.

The video has proved itself, and the brand knows it.

There is nothing to shoot and nothing to edit.

The negotiation turns on one point, the duration.

The contact already exists, no prospecting.

The price compares against a new production.

And a refusal costs nothing, the licence expires anyway.

What to write when the duration expires

Six lines, sent without aggression.

Recall the end date, as it appears in the agreement.

State what must come down, medium by medium.

Offer a renewal, with a price.

Offer a new production, if the video is worn out.

Set a date for the answer.

And keep a copy of the exchange, whatever the outcome.

The words to ban from your messages

Six phrasings that create the grey area.

Just for socials, with no list of accounts.

Internal use, a term that means nothing.

A reasonable duration, with no number of months.

Standard industry use, never defined.

Possible reuse, neither priced nor bounded.

And common-sense exclusivity, which does not exist in writing.

What you should never grant

Six lines to refuse, or to price very highly.

A total and permanent assignment of all rights.

Unlimited use in time with nothing in return.

The right to alter the content to the point of changing its meaning.

The right to sub-license to unnamed third parties.

Use of your name and image outside the video.

And category exclusivity with no duration and no price.

The four boundaries that define the use

What happens when those boundaries are missing

Each party assumes the opposite of the other, and the disagreement surfaces the day the video appears as an ad. Four lines in the quote remove that scenario entirely.

What costs more afterwards

A rights extension negotiated on a video that works. The brand has no reason to back down, the creator has no leverage, and the price is set in an unbalanced relation.

The Portuguese case, in practice

In Portugal as elsewhere, this remains general information: the regime applicable to copyright, neighbouring rights and image rights is checked with a lawyer, and the tax treatment with an accountant. What belongs to your daily practice is simpler: write the four dimensions into the message, keep a dated record, and invoice every extension separately.

One last marker: you are not selling a video, you are selling a permission. As long as the permission is not described, the side that distributes writes it for you.