MemeLicensing was built by Artnerra, a Germany-based intellectual property agency focused on meme IP, internet culture, and digital rights. Over the past four years, Artnerra has worked directly with meme creators and rights holders across licensing, copyright enforcement, merchandising, social media campaigns, and other commercial uses of meme IP. After working with more than 30 meme creators and helping facilitate over $1.6 million in meme-related IP value and creator monetisation, we built MemeLicensing to make commercial meme licensing more structured, accessible, and legally clear for brands. For more information, please see our About Us page.
Most memes online are shared by private individuals for humour, commentary, or internet culture, usually without a commercial purpose. Commercial use is different. When a brand, company, or agency uses a meme, it becomes part of a business activity, whether that means promoting a product, growing a brand account, increasing reach, improving brand visibility, or supporting a campaign. Even if nothing is sold directly in the post, the meme is still being used for commercial benefit. That is why commercial meme use is treated differently and may require a license from the relevant rights holder.
MemeLicensing is a curated platform, not an open self-listing marketplace. Creators, rights holders, or third parties cannot simply upload and list memes themselves. Artnerra selects assets, reviews them before listing, and works through creator, rights-holder, or authorised licensing-partner agreements before making assets available for licensing. The exact license scope depends on the selected license and our General Terms and Conditions.
Yes, provided the asset is used strictly within the scope of the purchased license. Each license defines brand scope, platform scope, duration, and commercial limitations. For full legal details, please review our General Terms and Conditions (GTC). Any usage outside the defined license terms is considered unauthorized use.
Commercial use includes brand marketing, business social media, campaign content, agency use for clients, paid or boosted distribution, promotional content, and other uses intended to create business value, audience growth, or brand visibility.
Pricing depends on the license type. The Organic Post License starts from $19 per post and covers up to 3 social media platforms for the same brand. The Paid Ads License starts from $49 per post and covers one meme, one paid campaign or boosted post, one advertising platform, and one ad account. The Subscription starts from $99 per 30-day billing cycle and gives one brand ongoing organic catalog access across all of its social media platforms. Subscription billing runs every 30 days from the purchase date, not on a calendar-month basis. The optional paid advertising add-on extends the Subscription to paid campaigns.
We are also available for custom license arrangements. If you are an agency, an enterprise client, or have specific licensing needs, please contact us.
All prices shown are net prices. VAT, sales tax, reverse-charge treatment, or other tax handling may be applied at checkout depending on your billing country, tax status, and applicable law.
Choose Organic Post if you want to use one meme in a normal non-boosted social media post for your brand. Choose Paid Ads if the meme will be used in any paid distribution, including boosted posts, sponsored posts, dark ads, or performance campaigns. Choose Subscription if one brand wants ongoing access to the catalog for frequent organic social content. If you also want to run paid campaigns under the Subscription, add the paid advertising add-on.
The Organic Post License covers one brand and one selected meme for one campaign-specific organic social media post. The same licensed post may be published across up to 3 social media platforms of the same brand. It covers commercial organic brand use only. It does not include paid advertising, boosting, merchandise, sublicensing, or use by separate brands, sub-brands, or distinct brand divisions unless expressly agreed in writing. The licensed use must first be activated within 60 days after purchase.
One Organic Post means a normal social media post published organically, without ad spend, boosting, sponsored distribution, or paid campaign support. It is simply a standard social media post on a platform such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, or YouTube, as long as it remains organic and within the scope of the purchased license.
Yes. Any paid distribution requires a Paid Ads License. This includes boosted posts, sponsored posts, dark posts, performance campaigns, search ads, display ads, and similar paid campaign use.
Paid Ads includes any use where money is spent to distribute, promote, or scale the meme beyond organic reach. This includes boosted posts, sponsored posts, dark posts, paid social ads, search ads, display ads, native ads, video ads, retargeting ads, performance campaigns, and similar paid media placements. It also includes campaigns run through platforms such as Meta Ads, Instagram Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, LinkedIn Ads, YouTube Ads, Google Ads, and comparable advertising platforms. Each Paid Ads License covers one meme, one paid campaign or boosted post, one advertising platform, and one ad account only. If you want to run the same meme across additional campaigns, platforms, or ad accounts, you need an additional license or written approval.
Within 60 days of purchase, the meme must go live as a paid post or ad. During this same 60-day period, you can run paid promotion, boosting, sponsored distribution, and ad spend on the licensed meme.
After the 60 days, no new ad spend may be invested in the meme. Any post that was already live may remain visible organically on your social media account, but no further paid spend, boosting, or sponsored distribution may be applied to it. If you need a longer paid campaign period, please contact us before purchase, as longer terms can be agreed in writing.
Yes. If the meme is used as part of a licensed paid advertising campaign, it may also appear on the related landing page or campaign destination page connected to that campaign. This includes external websites or landing pages used together with Google Ads, paid social campaigns, or similar advertising activity. However, this does not create a general website-use license. The use must remain tied to the same licensed brand, campaign, and license scope.
Yes. Under the Organic Post License, the same licensed post may be published across up to 3 social media platforms for the same brand. Under the Subscription, the same brand may use catalog memes across all of its own social media platforms and accounts during an active subscription. Under the Paid Ads License, usage is limited to one platform per license.
Platform coverage depends on the license type. Organic Post covers up to 3 social media platforms chosen for the same brand. Paid Ads covers 1 platform only. Subscription covers all social media platforms of the same brand for organic use. With the paid advertising add-on, Subscription can also cover paid usage across supported advertising platforms for that same brand.
No. Each license applies to one brand. Separate sub-brands, brand categories, sister brands, product-line brands, or independently positioned brands operated by the same parent company are not automatically included under a single license, even where they share an umbrella brand name or sit within the same corporate group.
Regional, local, or language-specific operations of the same brand may, however, be treated as the same brand where the underlying brand identity, core offering, and market positioning remain materially the same, even where those operations are managed through different local entities or subsidiaries.
For a detailed explanation of how we assess brand scope, see “What counts as the same brand?” below.
If you want to license memes across multiple distinct brands, divisions, or independently positioned business lines, please contact us for a custom license arrangement.
No. Each client or brand requires its own license. A single license cannot be shared across multiple agency clients or separate brand accounts unless expressly agreed in writing. If you are managing multiple brands or planning broader client use, please contact us.
For the purposes of our licensing model, “the same brand” does not depend only on corporate structure, legal entities, or internal group ownership. It depends primarily on how the brand is actually presented and used in the market.
A brand will generally be treated as the same brand where the underlying brand identity, the core offering, and the market positioning remain materially the same. This may include regional, language-specific, or country-specific versions of the same brand, provided they represent the same core business, the same brand identity, and substantially the same commercial offering, adapted only for different markets or audiences in different territories.
For example, regional versions of the same core brand, such as Example Brand Germany, Example Brand Spain, or Example Brand USA, would typically be treated as the same brand where they promote the same core company, the same general offering, and the same overall brand identity, even if content is adapted for language, region, or local market preferences.
However, separate brand divisions, sub-brands, product-line brands, or independently positioned verticals are not treated as the same brand merely because they share a parent company, umbrella brand, or broader naming convention. Where different divisions serve different customer segments, promote different product categories, operate with distinct marketing strategies, or function as clearly separated commercial units, they will generally be treated as separate brands for licensing purposes.
For example, Example Sports Brand Golf and Example Sports Brand Basketball would typically be treated as separate brands, even if they belong to the same wider brand family, because they address different audiences, support different product categories, and operate as distinct commercial and marketing propositions. The same logic applies to sub-brands, specialist divisions, and other separately positioned business lines within a larger corporate group.
The fact that two uses are connected to the same parent company does not automatically mean they are covered under one license. Likewise, the fact that different regional accounts may sit under different subsidiaries, branches, or local legal structures does not automatically mean they must be licensed separately. The decisive question is whether the use remains within the same core brand identity and the same commercial brand operation, or whether it extends into a distinct brand, division, or separately positioned offering.
In other words, country-specific or language-specific accounts of the same core brand may be treated as the same brand where they reflect the same overall brand identity and offering. But divisions, sub-brands, or clearly differentiated market segments under the same corporate umbrella will usually require separate licensing.
We reserve the right to assess brand scope on a case-by-case basis where the structure is unclear, unusually broad, or commercially complex. If you are unsure whether your intended use falls under one brand or multiple brands, please contact us before purchase.
The Subscription gives one brand ongoing access to the catalog for organic social media use during the active subscription period. It is designed for brands that want flexible, ongoing meme usage instead of licensing one meme at a time. It includes access across the brand’s own social media platforms and accounts for organic posting. Paid advertising is not included by default and requires the separate add-on.
The Subscription also includes a Monthly Meme Trend Overview. Each month, your brand receives a curated update covering newly added memes from the catalog, viral phrases that are currently spreading online, inside jokes that have entered mainstream conversation, and emerging cultural moments. This helps your brand stay culturally relevant and plan timely content and campaigns.
The Organic Post License ($19) and the Paid Ads License ($49) are one-time payments per license, with no recurring charges.
The Subscription is billed every 30 days from the purchase date, not on a fixed calendar schedule. If you subscribe on the 14th of the month, your next billing date will be 30 days later, regardless of which calendar month it falls in. The Subscription costs $99 per 30-day cycle. The optional paid advertising add-on adds $150 per cycle, for a combined total of $249 every 30 days.
Not by default. The standard Subscription covers organic social use only. If you want to use subscription memes in paid campaigns, boosted posts, sponsored posts, or ad accounts, you need the paid advertising add-on.
Paid advertising is not included in the standard Subscription. The optional paid advertising add-on unlocks paid campaign usage across supported advertising platforms, unlimited ad accounts connected to the same brand, and 10 personalized meme examples showing how memes from the catalog can be adapted for your brand. With the add-on active, the same brand can use subscription memes in paid social campaigns, boosted posts, sponsored posts, and ad spend, while the add-on is active and paid.
The add-on is intended for brands that want ongoing catalog access plus the ability to deploy memes in paid media. It does not extend the license to separate brands, agency clients, sub-brands, product-line brands, independently positioned business lines, unrelated ad accounts, or separate legal entities using the memes for a different brand or commercial offering, unless expressly agreed in writing. Regional, local, or language-specific accounts of the same core brand may be included where they represent the same brand identity and commercial offering.
Paid advertising rights under the add-on apply only while the add-on and the underlying Subscription are active and paid. If you cancel the paid advertising add-on or the Subscription itself, you keep full access until the end of your current 30-day Subscription cycle. Only after your current cycle ends does a one-time 30-day wind-down period begin, during which paid promotion may continue only for paid campaigns that were already running under the active add-on.
During this wind-down period, you may not start new paid campaigns, add new meme assets, create new ad creatives, launch new ad sets, add new ad accounts, add new platforms, add additional brands, or materially expand the campaign scope. After the 30-day wind-down period, all paid spend, boosting, sponsored distribution, and other paid promotion using subscription memes must stop. Organic visibility of lawfully published posts may continue, provided the use otherwise remains within the applicable license terms.
The paid advertising add-on includes 10 personalized meme examples that show how memes from the catalog can be used and adapted for your brand and your specific niche. These examples are designed to give your team creative direction, format references, and a clear picture of how meme content can fit your brand voice, audience, and campaign style.
The examples are creative suggestions and campaign inspiration. They are not strategic consulting, guaranteed performance assets, or exclusive concepts. Unless agreed otherwise, they are delivered when we make them available to you, and revision rounds are not included by default.
Where examples include third-party fonts, logos, or brand elements used solely for illustration, please replace these with your own cleared materials before publication.
Content that was lawfully published during an active Subscription may remain live organically. However, once the Subscription ends, you may not create new uses, launch new posts, reuse assets in new campaigns, download or use additional catalog memes, or continue paid promotion unless you hold a valid active license.
If the paid advertising add-on was active, paid promotion is limited to the 30-day wind-down period described above for already running paid campaigns. After that period, no further paid spend, boosting, sponsored distribution, or other paid promotion may be applied to subscription memes.
Reasonable modifications are generally permitted for the licensed use, such as adding brand copy, resizing, cropping, or adapting the layout. However, you may not alter the asset in a defamatory, misleading, fraudulent, harmful, reputation-damaging, or otherwise unlawful way, or in a way that suggests endorsement beyond the granted license.
No. Organic Post, Paid Ads, and Subscription licenses do not include merchandising rights. Use on physical products, packaging, apparel, printed goods, resale items, or similar merchandise is not covered unless separately agreed in writing. If you are interested in merchandise or physical product use, please contact us and we will refer you to the rights holder.
No. Assets may not be used for AI training, machine learning, dataset creation, model fine-tuning, embedding in AI datasets, resale or distribution as training data, or generating new substitute assets. Ordinary editing, resizing, formatting, captioning, layout adaptation, compression, or platform adaptation using standard creative software is not prohibited merely because the software contains AI-assisted features, provided the licensed content is not used for model training, dataset creation, or generation of separate substitute assets.
No. All licenses are non-transferable and non-sublicensable. You may not resell the asset, sublicense it, assign it, distribute it to another company, or allow another brand or entity to use it outside the expressly licensed scope.
The 60-day period creates a clear compliance and enforcement window. For Organic Post Licenses, it means the licensed organic use must first go live within 60 days after purchase. For Paid Ads Licenses, the meme must also go live within 60 days, and paid promotion, boosting, sponsored distribution, or ad spend may only run during that same 60-day period.
The rule helps us verify whether the licensed use was launched within the permitted timeframe and reduces misuse, such as purchasing one license and activating it much later outside the original licensed window. Organic posts do not need to be deleted simply because 60 days have passed, but Paid Ads Licenses do not allow further paid spend after the 60-day period unless a longer term is agreed in writing.
No. The 60-day activation period only means that the licensed use must first go live within 60 days after purchase. Once the post or campaign has been validly activated within that period, it does not need to be deleted simply because 60 days have passed. If you want to create a new use after the activation window, you may need a new license.
For Paid Ads Licenses, the post may remain visible organically after the 60-day period, but no further paid spend, boosting, or sponsored distribution may be applied to it.
Yes, you can submit additions or updates within the limits of your license. For one-time Organic Post and Paid Ads Licenses, any later additions or updates must be submitted within the applicable 60-day activation or paid campaign period. For Subscriptions and paid advertising add-ons, updates relating to a specific 30-day billing cycle must be submitted within that same cycle in which the relevant use first occurred.
This is required so we can verify licensed use, allocate usage to the correct license period, and process creator reporting and payout allocation correctly. Later updates do not extend your license, create new rights, or allow use outside the licensed brand, platform, ad account, campaign, or time period. Submitting an update is not by itself an expansion or extension of your license.
Please make sure the submitted handles, account names, URLs, ad account identifiers, and campaign details are accurate, because licenses are linked to the declared information.
Unauthorized use may result in retroactive licensing fees, enforcement action, takedown demands, and legal proceedings where necessary. We reserve the right to protect the rights of our creators and enforce the agreed license scope.