LONG READ / BUSINESS
WHO OWNS THE IMAGE?
Digital likeness contracts are rewriting the economics of representation. A field report from three markets.
WOLF INDEX / 2026.09.10 / 12 MIN
A digital twin is not a photograph. It is a rights object, and it behaves like one: it can be licensed, restricted, expired and withdrawn.
Across Paris, Lagos and Tokyo, the same question surfaces in different contractual languages. Who holds the scan, who approves the use, and what happens to the asset when representation ends.
The agencies that answer this clearly will be trusted with the next decade of image production. The ones that stay vague will not.
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