Posted by Jeff Hanna on September 29, 2006 at 12:42 PM
See my previous post on 9/18..
Little update.. I submitted a letter and the response from the contest organizer was that he had copied the rule from another company's contest. It was meant to protect the company, not cheap the employee. Also, our Legal department had agreed with it. So on to the Legal department I went.. They said that the contest was intended for amateur photographers (that's almost everyone, isn't it?), and amateur photographers do not normally make money from selling rights to their photographs. In addition, they wanted to be free to use the photographs as they chose (they have already put some on the website and distributed printouts to promote the contest), and it was easiest to simply take ownership of them. They also said that while they take ownership, they do not plan to object to personal use of a photo that has been submitted. With this response it still seems to me that they are trying to gain multiple use imagery for free. While writing my letter to the organizer I also realized the kicker: the whole purpose of the contest in the first place is to support the arts.. gee what a nice way to do that..
Jeff
Posted by Dan Borzynski on September 29, 2006 at 1:07 PM
This response doesn't seem to do much for wanting to enter. Okay, you get to keep the image for personal use, but in the end, you basically lose the use of the image for anything down the road. Not good, especially if you ever try to market your work, or possibly even enter it into other competitions.
Ask the lawyers to pick their strongest capability and list that for free with an arts organization. Forever more, those services can be used for free as needed by the organization. No tax writeoffs. No payments. No end date. Whenever the arts org needs them, they step up to the line and provide the service for free.
What's the difference between that and what they are asking you to do? After all, they want to support the arts, don't they?
I Wonder if they do really wont to support the Art of Photography as far as competitions of this type I vote with my feet and do not Entre these comps whats Mine is Mine, it cost me a lot to get it so whats wrong with them paying some of this cost back to us, Amateur or Professional.
Charles R Kerr
Discussion
4 repliesLittle update.. I submitted a letter and the response from the contest organizer was that he had copied the rule from another company's contest. It was meant to protect the company, not cheap the employee. Also, our Legal department had agreed with it. So on to the Legal department I went.. They said that the contest was intended for amateur photographers (that's almost everyone, isn't it?), and amateur photographers do not normally make money from selling rights to their photographs. In addition, they wanted to be free to use the photographs as they chose (they have already put some on the website and distributed printouts to promote the contest), and it was easiest to simply take ownership of them. They also said that while they take ownership, they do not plan to object to personal use of a photo that has been submitted. With this response it still seems to me that they are trying to gain multiple use imagery for free. While writing my letter to the organizer I also realized the kicker: the whole purpose of the contest in the first place is to support the arts.. gee what a nice way to do that..
Jeff
Stay away. Your work is worth more than that.
I an image is worth them using, then it is worth paying for.
I'd tell them where to stick their contest, and I'd tell them why!
What's the difference between that and what they are asking you to do? After all, they want to support the arts, don't they?
Charles R Kerr