To ensure consistency, efficiency, and high-quality outcomes across all PALFINGER digital platforms and communication channels, this section defines the standards for creating, managing, and delivering media assets.
It provides clear guidance on legal requirements, technical specifications, metadata requirements and file naming conventions as well as delivery and usage guidelines. These standards are designed to support seamless collaboration between internal teams, regional marketing units, and external partners and agencies.
By following these guidelines, you help ensure that assets are easy to find, correctly structured, technically and legally compliant, and ready for use across systems such as the Brand Portal, Media Portal (DAM), and other connected platforms. Consistent application of these standards also improves searchability, reduces redundancies, and enables scalable, efficient asset management.
Legal Requirements for Media Production & Usage
Standardised templates for all required legal documents (e.g. consent forms, media rights clearance agreements) are provided below.
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1. Use of Images and Recordings of People
The use, publication, or distribution of portraits, photographs, video recordings, or any other media featuring identifiable individuals must not infringe upon the personal rights or legitimate interests of the depicted persons, particularly in the context of advertising and commercial communication.
- Explicit consent is mandatory for any use or publication.
- Consent must be obtained prior to production or publication and documented in a formal Declaration of Consent (model release).
- At PALFINGER, a written, comprehensive, and legally valid agreement is obligatory, especially for marketing and advertising use cases
2. Property, Objects, and Identifiable Elements
Although legal requirements regarding the depiction of property (e.g. buildings, objects, private premises) are limited in German-speaking jurisdictions, caution is still required.
- Where applicable, permission from property owners should be obtained, especially for commercial use.
- If consent cannot be clearly confirmed, potentially sensitive or identifiable elements must be anonymised, including:
- License plates
- Names on signs or buildings
- Logos or protected elements not owned by PALFINGER
- Such elements must be removed or blurred during post-production if rights are unclear.
These templates must be used to ensure compliance:
3. Commissioning External Partners
(Agencies, Photographers, Production Companies)
When working with external partners, it is essential to secure full legal control over the produced media assets.
- Contracts must ensure that PALFINGER receives:
- Exclusive usage rights
- Unlimited rights in terms of time, geography, and scope
- Rights covering both:
- Final deliverables (incl. right to edit)
- RAW files and project data (incl. right to edit)
- These requirements must be:
- Included in the Request for Proposal (RFP) / Request for Quote (RFQ)
- Formally documented in a Media Rights Clearance agreement
This approach ensures that PALFINGER can use, adapt, distribute, and publish media assets across all channels without restrictions.
4. Licensing and Third-Party Content
- All third-party content (e.g. stock footage, music, voice-overs) must be:
- Properly licensed
- Fully documented
- Delivered together with the final production
- License agreements must clearly define:
- Scope of use
- Restrictions (if any)
- Duration and territory
- Complete documentation must be included in the Media Rights Clearance package.
These templates must be used to ensure compliance:
To ensure lawful and compliant use of any media asset, the origin of the production (creator, author, photographer, agency, or licensor) as well as all applicable usage rights, restrictions, and licensing terms must be clearly documented and traceable. Media assets for which this information is unavailable or incomplete must not be used.
1. Photo Productions
For all photographic content, it must be clarified whether the photographer requires attribution whenever the image is used (e.g., in magazines, brochures, presentations, websites, or social media channels). Whenever possible, PALFINGER prefers to negotiate usage rights without mandatory attribution requirements.
As a general principle, PALFINGER aims to acquire the broadest possible rights of use, ideally including exclusive and unrestricted usage rights, comparable to media assets created by PALFINGER employees. In such cases, PALFINGER may use the copyright notice © PALFINGER in connection with the respective photo production.
2. Video and other Media Productions
Video productions and other media assets are typically created by agencies, production companies, or external service providers rather than individual creators. Therefore, it must be clarified whether the production company requires attribution whenever the content is published (e.g., on websites, social media channels, presentations, events, or marketing materials). Wherever feasible, PALFINGER prefers to agree on usage rights that do not require mandatory attribution.
As with photographic content, PALFINGER seeks to acquire the broadest possible rights of use, ideally including exclusive and unrestricted rights, allowing the company to use the copyright notice © PALFINGER in connection with the respective production.
Please note:
The scope of acquired rights may be limited by copyright, licensing agreements, model release rights, property release rights, third-party licensing terms relating to incorporated assets (such as stock photography, stock footage, music, sound effects, graphics, animations, or other third-party content), as well as any other contractual restrictions imposed by the creator, author, agency, production company, or licensor. All applicable rights, restrictions, attribution obligations, territorial limitations, expiration dates, and licensing conditions must be documented in the Media Rights Clearance Document. In addition, "Usage Restrictions / License Information" must be recorded in the respective metadata field when uploading media assets to the Media Portal.
License / Copyright Info in Media Portal
In addition to the mandatory metadata fields
- "Licensor Type" and
- "Licensor / Creator Name", the
- "Usage Restrictions / License Information"
field must be completed when uploading assets to the Media Portal.
This field is used to document any applicable licensing conditions, attribution obligations, usage restrictions (also defined from PALFINGER's side), territorial limitations, expiration dates, third-party rights, or other legal and contractual requirements associated with the asset.
Users who download assets from the Media Portal must always be able to clearly understand what they are permitted to do with an asset and what restrictions apply. By downloading and using an asset, users acknowledge and agree to comply with all documented usage rights and restrictions specified for that asset.
In addition, the general Media Portal Terms of Use and Service, which users must accept during the registration process, apply to all assets and activities within the Media Portal. Asset-specific licensing information and restrictions documented in the asset metadata supplement these general terms and must be observed at all times.
Full and unrestricted usage rights have been granted for the specific final media asset. PALFINGER may use, reproduce, publish, distribute, modify, adapt, archive, and make the asset available across all media channels and formats worldwide and without time limitation.
Compliance and Approval Process
To ensure full legal compliance:
- All required documents must be completed and available before publication, including:
- Declarations of consent
- Shooting permissions
- Media rights and licensing agreements
- NDAs (if applicable)
- Final assets must follow PALFINGER’s approval processes and governance standards as defined in the Marketing & Communications Group Policy that can be found in the Group Policy System.
- PALFINGER reserves the right to reject, remove, or request deletion of non-compliant media assets.
Technical Specifications
To ensure consistent quality, usability, and optimal system processing, all delivered media assets must meet the following format and quality standards.
Images (Photos):
- Print Quality
- Required formats: JPEG (preferred) or TIFF
- Resolution and aspect ratio: Original (no downscaling) and / or as requested
- Quality: High-quality compression only (no visible artifacts)
- Pixel density: Preferably 300 dpi (dots per inch)
Uploading high-resolution files to our Media Portal enables the system to automatically generate optimized versions for different use cases (e.g. web, print, and other formats).
Please note:
- Images with low resolution / low pixel density are not suitable for high-quality print applications
- Exceptions may apply for assets intended solely for specific digital use cases, such as:
- Icons
- Thumbnails
- Design modules or UI elements
Videos:
- Required format: H.264-encoded .mp4
- Resolution & frame rate: Requested resolution and frame rate (e.g. 16:9, UHD, 50fps)
- Encoding standard for YouTube: Must follow YouTube-recommended encoding settings
Optional (High Quality Source Files):
You may additionally provide:
- Apple ProRes 4:2:2 (HQ) – .mov
These files can be used for high-end editing, archiving, or future production needs.
General Principle
Always upload final, production-ready media assets in the highest available quality. This ensures:
- Maximum flexibility for future use cases
- Reliable automated conversion into various formats
- Consistent brand and production quality across all channels
Metadata
To ensure transparency, traceability, and proper rights management, all media assets must include complete and accurate metadata regarding their origin and ownership.
- The following information must be provided and embedded (where possible) in the asset metadata and/or documented in accompanying files:
- Creator / Author (e.g. photographer, videographer, agency)
- Copyright holder / rights owner (e.g. PALFINGER AG or third party)
- Production company / supplier
- Date of production
- Usage rights information (e.g. exclusive, time‑limited, licensed content)
- License references for any third-party elements (e.g. stock images, music)
- Metadata should be:
- Stored directly in the asset (e.g. EXIF/IPTC/XMP metadata)
- Maintained consistently in the Digital Asset Management system (DAM)
- When uploading to the Media Portal (DAM):
- All mandatory fields must be completed
- Naming conventions and tagging standards must be followed
- Any missing or incomplete rights information must be clarified before publication!
- Proper metadata enables PALFINGER to:
- Track the origin of assets
- Verify usage rights and licenses
- Respond efficiently to copyright claims or legal inquiries
- Ensure compliance with internal governance and external legal requirements
File Naming Conventions
The standard naming structure for photo, video, graphic-files etc. is in English:
- PALFINGER_product_line_model_YYYYMM
- PALFINGER_product_or_service_YYYYMM
- PALFINGER_event_location_YYYYMM
- PALFINGER_topic_add_info_YYYYMM
- PALFINGER_portrait_name_YYYYMM
Please keep in mind:
- When naming files, it is recommended to include “PALFINGER” as part of the filename, as downloaded files will retain their original names..
This ensures that assets remain clearly identifiable as PALFINGER materials, even when shared externally or used outside of our systems. - Do not use any special characters like ?, /, &, # and © since they break Digital Asset Management Systems and Content Management Systems by disrupting web URLs, database imports, and file systems.
- The usage of underscores and hyphens avoid issues in many environments and improves compatibility.
- The format YYYYMM for dates enables automatic chronological sorting of files.
- Add sequence numbers (001, 002, 003, ...) at the end of the file name to distinguish differnet files in a series.
- Add version suffix (_v01) if needed.
- Always keep names descriptive but short.
However, when naming assets within the Media Portal (DAM) via the asset title after uploading, adding “PALFINGER” to the title is neither necessary nor meaningful. Users within the system are already aware that they are working with PALFINGER assets. Please do not include “PALFINGER” in asset titles after uploading files to the Media Portal. Asset titles in the Media Portal should be as short, clear, and precise as possible.
Media Portal asset titles can be defined for example this way:
- Product Line Model Location
- Event Name Location YYYY
- Portrait First Name Last Name YYYY
Media Portal Upload
If you are a marketer or business partner (e.g. agency, media production company, photographer) responsible for delivering approved and final media assets, please upload your files to the Media Portal (DAM) here after registration. Your uploads will be reviewed by a PALFINGER editor and published if applicable.
