Property releases are similar to model releases. A property release is a binding contract that formalises the agreement of a copyright owner whose work is the subject of, or featured in, a photograph. The agreement will set out what use may be made of the photograph and what rights, if any, are retained by the property owner.

Contrary to popular belief they are not generally required for images of buildings in UK, because although buildings are copyright designs, the 1988 Copyright Designs and Patents Act provides an exemption for certain works on permanent public display, which buildings almost always are. Most scuplture is also similarly exempt.

In theory any 'designed object' may be subject to the designer's or manufacturers' copyright, so a photograph that includes almost any product be argued to require a property release. However a photograph is not a copy of a product but a representation and will generally comprise a sufficiently a new and original work for this to be invalid.

The usefulness and applicability of property releases under UK law is therefore limited in most circumstances, although any marketing or advertising use that implies endorsement by the 'brand' could be hazardous without a release that explicitly permits this. This is not a copyright issue as such, but one of commercial interest, passing off or defamation. Such releases usually cost a great deal of money to obtain. Fortunately this issue does not arise in editorial use.

Releases may appear more to have more copyright relevance for photographs of logos or registered trademarks, where 'copying' goes beyond incidental inclusion. Here the mere act of photography may infringe. Despite the threats of some trademark holders, it is hard to see what damages could arise directly from the copying itself and the position remains uncertain for editorial use.

As with model releases, the client who publishes the photograph assumes ultimate responsibility for any infringement. This concern has led many stock libraries to require property releases to be available even when they are irrelevant or unobtainable.

This is an awkward or impossible requirement for photographers that also has its origins in rather different US law regarding buildings, which affords post-1999 buildings of US-registered design full copyright protection in limited circumstances.