Abstract: Photographic elements, such as still films, motion picture films, paper prints, microfiche, and the like, are provided with a protective overcoat layer which is permanently bonded to the element and serves to protect it from abrasion and scratches. The protective overcoat is formed by coating the element with a radiation-curable composition, comprising an acrylated urethane, an aliphatic ethylenically-unsaturated carboxylic acid and a multifunctional acrylate, and irradiating the coating to bond it to the element and cure it to form a transparent, flexible, scratch-resistant, cross-linked polymeric layer. Protective overcoat layers can be applied to the image-bearing side of the element or to the support side of the element or to both sides.