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Author Topic: Rights grab by Microsoft UK.  (Read 5066 times)

Eric Kellerman

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Rights grab by Microsoft UK.
« on: June 13, 2011, 05:30:28 pm »

Forgive me if this is quite the wrong place to post this, but I see no other suitable place on LL:

A friend of mine has just brought an outrageous rights grab to my attention. Microsoft UK, via Bing, is organising a competition called 'Your Britain'. Item 7 of the 'Terms and conditions' reads as follows:

7. USE OF MY ENTRY


All entrants to the Competition:

• grant us an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual right and license to: (i) use, reproduce, publish, modify, perform and display the Entry and all its content in connection with the promotion of this Competition by all means and in all media (now known or later developed) including without limitation on the UK www.bing.com webpage or any replacement or successor to such web page, any sub domains, any international, non-UK versions of www.bing.com, and in any marketing or advertising of any kind related thereto; (ii) use the image in future campaigns, promotions, screensaver and wallpaper packs whether related to this Competition or not;
• agree to sign any necessary documentation that may be required for us and our designees to make use of the rights you grant above;
• hereby irrevocably and unconditionally waive in perpetuity the benefit of any provision of law known as moral rights, the benefits of any provision of law known as "droit moral" or any similar law in any country of the universe with regard to your Entry;
• understand that you will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your Entry, other than as described in these Terms and Conditions.

The photograph you enter may be displayed on the Competition Website and when displayed may include your username, title of the photo and category, and county of residence all of which are selected by you in the entry process. Please note that during this Competition your Entry may be posted or displayed publicly on other websites selected by us for viewing by visitors to that website’s public location. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of your Entry by visitors. While we reserve these rights, we are not obligated to use your Entry for any purpose, even if it has been selected as a winning Entry. If you do not want to grant us these rights to your photograph, please do not enter this competition.


I do not think I have seen anything quite as blatant as this before. Microsoft should be ashamed.

I realise that the LL readership will be clued up on such tricks, but the people this competition will be aimed at may not think to read the small print or realise its consequences.

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geesbert

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Re: Rights grab by Microsoft UK.
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2011, 04:00:24 am »

and some of them even might be proud 'to get published'!
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Chairman Bill

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Re: Rights grab by Microsoft UK.
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2011, 04:17:11 am »

There's a 'Feedback' link which enables you to give feedback (funnily enough) on 'Bing', & I see no reason not to do so concerning this competition

louoates

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Re: Rights grab by Microsoft UK.
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2011, 04:05:01 pm »

There are enough "weasel" words in these kinds of agreements that pretty much destroys your copyright protections to your entries. I've see similar even more blatant language in other "contests". It wouldn't surprise me that they already have sold rights to entries even before the contest. The further insult is that many of these so-called competitions require a entry fee. So you end up financing the theft of your own images. Read carefully any agreement. I do and haven't submitted any of my images in years.
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feppe

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Re: Rights grab by Microsoft UK.
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2011, 04:59:04 pm »

There are enough "weasel" words in these kinds of agreements that pretty much destroys your copyright protections to your entries.

In fairness MS is crystal clear in what it means to submit photos to their competition.

Quote
• hereby irrevocably and unconditionally waive in perpetuity the benefit of any provision of law known as moral rights, the benefits of any provision of law known as "droit moral" or any similar law in any country of the universe with regard to your Entry;
• understand that you will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your Entry, other than as described in these Terms and Conditions.

Did they really use the word "universe"?

Jeremy Roussak

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Re: Rights grab by Microsoft UK.
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2011, 05:01:35 pm »

In fairness MS is crystal clear in what it means to submit photos to their competition.

Did they really use the word "universe"?
Never let it be said that Micro$oft's ambtions are confined to this earthly realm. You have to admire their forethought, really.

Jeremy
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AvidVisionary

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Re: Rights grab by Microsoft UK.
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2011, 09:08:49 pm »

It all sounds scary but a judge can easily side with a person who takes M$ to court for copyright infringement. The courts work very differently.
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neile

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Re: Rights grab by Microsoft UK.
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2011, 08:22:50 pm »

Honestly, those terms are essentially the same as every other photo contest out there. Look no further than Blurb's "Photography Book Now" contest terms for a similar example:

"By entering this Promotion, you grant the Sponsor a royalty-free, world-wide, fully paid-up, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, distribute, modify, adapt, and publicly display your submission; and to make derivative works of the Submissions, or edit Submission for practical and cost considerations, for use as display models in trade shows and exhibitions, and for promotional purposes."

At least they aren't asking for exclusive rights. I caught that one in a contest by Dwell, and wrote about it on my blog: http://www.danecreekfolios.com/blog/2011/5/13/dwellblurbrsquos-photo-competition-fine-print.html.

Neil
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feppe

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Re: Rights grab by Microsoft UK.
« Reply #8 on: June 24, 2011, 09:03:33 am »

Not a month goes by that the onerous terms of these "competitions" is not raised on here. The sensible solution is to raise awareness, especially in the casual photography public, and to boycott those competitions.

Eric Kellerman

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Re: Rights grab by Microsoft UK.
« Reply #9 on: June 24, 2011, 09:28:27 am »

Fortunately not all competitions are so mean-spirited in their Terms of Use. The Sony World Photography Awards, AOP Awards and the Black and White Spider Awards are just three examples of competitions which do not impose such swingeing conditions on their entrants.

Yes, consciousness-raising is necessary (and it is part of our job as serious photographers, I feel), and no, we should not be entering competitions like 'Your Britain'.

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