Is it illegal to remove watermarks from photos?

It depends on whose photo it is. Is it legal to remove a watermark from your own photo, or from one you have a license to edit? Yes. Removing someone else’s watermark so you can use their photo is usually copyright infringement, and in the US, removing a watermark that names the owner can be a separate violation on top of that.

Updated October 29, 2026. This guide explains the law in plain terms; it is not legal advice. For a specific case, ask a lawyer.

The short answer

When removing watermarks is legal

Copyright belongs to whoever made the photo, or whoever they transferred it to. So the question is never really about the watermark. What matters is whether you have the right to use and change the photo.

You do when you took the photo yourself, which is the most common case: an old export with your name across it, a date stamp from your camera, or a logo you have since replaced. You also do when you bought a license that allows editing, when the owner gave you permission, or when the photo is in the public domain. Creative Commons licenses vary: some allow changes, some (the “ND”, no derivatives, licenses) don’t, and all of them require credit.

When it is illegal to remove watermarks

Removing watermarks becomes a legal problem when you don’t have those rights and you use the photo anyway: you post it, print it, sell it or put it on a website. The use is the infringement. The removal makes it worse, because it hides who owns the photo.

Watermarks also carry contract terms. Stock libraries and photographers show watermarked previews so you can look before you pay. Removing the mark from a preview to skip the purchase breaks the site’s terms as well as the photographer’s copyright.

What US law says about removing watermarks

Section 1202 of the US Copyright Act, added by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), protects “copyright management information”. That covers the author’s name, the owner’s name, a copyright notice, the terms of use, and symbols or links that point to them. A watermark with a name, a logo or a © notice usually qualifies.

The law forbids removing that information intentionally, without the owner’s permission, when you know, or for a lawsuit have reasonable grounds to know, that the removal will help hide or enable infringement. Two appeals courts have applied it to photos:

• Murphy v. Millennium Radio Group (3d Cir. 2011): a radio station posted a photo with the photographer’s printed credit cropped off. The court held that a plain visible credit counts as copyright management information.
• Mango v. BuzzFeed (2d Cir. 2020): BuzzFeed used a photo without permission and replaced the photographer’s credit with other names. The court held that hiding your own infringement is enough; no one else has to copy the photo later.

A watermark that only says “PROOF” or “SAMPLE” may not identify anyone, so it may fall outside Section 1202. Using the photo without permission is still infringement.

Is it a crime to remove watermarks?

Usually it’s a civil matter: the owner can sue you. Under Section 1203, they can ask for their actual losses or for statutory damages of $2,500 to $25,000 for each violation of Section 1202, on top of any damages for the infringement itself, and the court may award legal fees.

It becomes a crime under Section 1204 only when someone does it willfully and for commercial advantage or private financial gain. The first offense carries fines of up to $500,000, up to 5 years in prison, or both.

In the UK, section 296ZG of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 covers the same act: knowingly removing electronic rights management information without permission, when you know or have reason to believe it will help infringement. It gives the owner the same rights as for infringement, so they can sue.

School photos, stock photos and photographer proofs

School photos. The photographer or studio normally keeps the copyright, even after you pay for prints. Watermarked online galleries are proofs. If you want digital files, buy the digital package or ask for a print release. Screenshotting the proof and removing the watermark skips both.

Stock photos. A watermarked preview is not a license. Buy the license for the size and use you need, and download the clean file from the stock site.

Your photographer’s proofs. The proof watermark marks photos you haven’t paid for yet. Ask the photographer for the finished files.

Is it illegal to remove watermarks with AI?

The method doesn’t change the law. An AI watermark remover is legal in the same way an eraser is: removing your own mark from your own photo is fine, and removing someone else’s mark from their photo is not.

AI-generated images are a newer question. In the US, a work made by an AI system on its own has no human author, so it isn’t protected by copyright (Thaler v. Perlmutter, D.C. Cir. 2025). Platform rules still apply, though, and they change. Gemini now lets you switch off its visible mark in settings, while the invisible SynthID watermark and the Content Credentials (C2PA) data stay in the file. Check the terms of the tool that made the image before you remove its label, and don’t pass off an AI image as a real photo.

Three myths

“If there’s no watermark, the photo is free to use.” Copyright starts the moment a photo is taken. No watermark, notice or registration is needed.

“I credited the photographer, so it’s fine.” Credit isn’t permission. You still need a license.

“Removing a watermark is theft.” Legally, it isn’t theft. It can be copyright infringement and, in the US, a Section 1202 violation, and both can cost real money.

Want to use a watermarked photo? Do this instead

1. Look for the license on the page where you found it, or a “buy” or “download” option.
2. Contact the photographer and ask. Many say yes for a credit or a small fee. Get it in writing.
3. Use a free photo library with a clear license, or a public domain image.
4. Take the photo yourself.

Remove a watermark from your own photo

For your own photos, or ones you license, the Saybrush watermark remover removes a logo, text or date stamp: name the mark and the AI redraws the area under it. It’s part of the Saybrush AI image editor, where you can make any other edit by describing it. You can only use it on photos you have the rights to; our Content Policy doesn’t allow editing photos you don’t have the right to use.

Remove a watermark from your photo

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