Image Usage & Copyright Policy

Ownership

Every image on hedigear.com was created by HEDiGEAR or licensed to HEDiGEAR for use on this site. These are not stock photos, and they are not AI-generated. They show our actual products, our actual patches, and the people who wear them.

All photography, video, and graphics on this site are the property of HEDiGEAR and are protected under copyright law from the moment they are created. This applies whether or not an individual image carries a visible watermark or credit line.

What this policy covers

This policy applies to:

• Product photography (backpacks, patches, accessories)
• Lifestyle and in-use photography
• Blog and article imagery, including the "Moments on the Road" series
• Founder and team photography
• Graphics, icons, and social media visuals created by HEDiGEAR

It does not apply to logos or trademarks owned by third parties that appear in licensed patch designs (team crests, school marks, and similar). Those are governed by the terms of the underlying license, not by this policy.

What you can do

• Link directly to any page on hedigear.com
• Share a link to a product or article on social media using the platform's native share or embed function
• Use a small excerpt (a single photo, clearly credited to HEDiGEAR with a link back) in editorial coverage, a product review, or a news article about HEDiGEAR

What you can't do without permission

You may not copy, download, crop, alter, recolor, republish, or otherwise reuse our photography, video, or graphics for any purpose, including:

• Use on another website, marketplace listing, or storefront
• Use in your own marketing, advertising, or print materials
• Use as training data for artificial intelligence or machine learning models
• Use in a way that implies HEDiGEAR's endorsement of another product, brand, or organization
• Removal or cropping-out of any watermark or embedded copyright metadata

This applies regardless of whether the image was saved directly from the site, taken as a screenshot, or accessed through a search engine, AI assistant, or browser extension.

A note on AI and automated use

We are aware that automated tools increasingly scrape the web to train image-generation and AI models. Our photography carries embedded copyright metadata and a visible watermark specifically so that ownership travels with the file. Use of our imagery to train, fine-tune, or prompt any AI system, or to generate derivative images, is not permitted without a written license.

Requesting permission

We're generally open to licensing images for legitimate use: press coverage, partner co-marketing, or similar. To request permission, contact us with:

• The specific image(s) or product page(s) involved
• How you intend to use the image
• Where it will appear and for how long

Send requests to info@hedigear.com. We aim to respond within 3 business days.

Violations

If we find our photography in use without permission, we may request removal, seek a licensing fee for the use that already occurred, or pursue other remedies available under copyright law, depending on the nature of the use.

Questions

For anything not covered here, contact us at info@hedigear.com.