Tag: rights grab

All your Burning Man photos belong to Burning Man

Nicolai Grossman Leave a comment

Problem: people get naked at the Burning Man festival. People take pictures of them and post and/or sell them on the Internet.

Burning Man’s "solution": they steal the copyright (PDF) to all photos taken at the festival.

The Burning Man spokesperson says:

"Our main concern in enacting the policy was to be able to create this weeklong cultural bubble where people can express themselves without worrying about their image being plastered all over the Internet," she said, reiterating that Burning Man wants to be able to take down these images if the poster refuses.

"There are a lot of nude people out here, and this protects the school teacher from Iowa who doesn’t wasn’t want to appear on a porn site," she said. "I acknowledge that the copyright law is heavy-handed way of handling this, but it’s the only tool we have right now.

More here at The Legal Satyricon and here at XBIZ (which is a porn industry news site and may have NSFW ads).

I’m not a lawyer, but I think a saner approach would be to have a photo agreement that states that you aren’t allowed to do whatever they object to, and specify a very heavy remedy if you do it anyway.

Via Jonathan Block

REI rights grab

Nicolai Grossman Leave a comment

Rights-grabbing terms for photo submissions from outdoor sport retailer REI:

1. I irrevocably grant to Recreational Equipment, Inc. . . . in perpetuity, for no additional consideration, to use the photographs or pictures . . . an unlimited number of times in any manner REI deems . . . without restriction as to changes or alterations, or reproductions . . . . I also consent to the use of printed matter in conjunction therewith.

and it gets worse from there.

More info at Photo Attorney

Microsoft fix rights-grabbing terms in student photographer contest!

Nicolai Grossman 3 Comments

The rights-grabbing terms in Microsoft’s Future Pro Photographer Photo Contest that I previously posted about have been changed!

The old, abusive clause has been changed from

5. ENTRIES PROPERTY OF SPONSOR.

All Entries become the property of Sponsor and Administrators and will not be returned. By submitting your Entry, you grant Sponsor and Administrators an irrevocable royalty-free, worldwide right, in all media (now known or later developed) to use, publish, alter or otherwise exploit your Entry. You hereby forever release the Sponsor and Administrators from any and all claims you might have in connection with their use and exhibit of your Entry as set forth above. You also agree to sign any necessary documentation to effectuate that license and release. If you do not want to grant Sponsor and Administrators the foregoing, please do not enter the Contest.

to the very model of reason and fairness:

5. Rights to Use Entries.

As a condition of accepting a prize, you agree to grant Microsoft an irrevocable royalty-free worldwide license to reproduce and display the image, credited with your first and last name, in print and on the web for the purposes of only promoting this contest.

These terms take only what’s necessary to reasonably manage the contest, and it guarantees a photo credit. I never thought I’d hand it to Microsoft, but well done. (Of course the original all-your-rights-are-belong-to-us terms should have never, ever been out there in the first place, but they sorted it out quickly.)

Microsoft rights grab in student photographer contest

Nicolai Grossman 3 Comments

By entering work in the Microsoft Future Pro Photographer Photo Contest, you give them all rights to it. Not even by winning, just by entering. They’ve done it in a really sleazy way, too.

The contest FAQ says:

Does Microsoft own the rights to images submitted to the contest?

As an entrant, you retain the copyright ownership of the images you submit. Submitting an entry does not assign or transfer any ownership or copyrights to Microsoft; those rights remain with the creator of the original work. However as a condition of accepting a prize, you agree to grant Microsoft the right to reproduce and display the image, credited with your first and last name, in print and on the web, for the purposes of promoting this contest.

These sound like perfectly reasonable, maybe ideal, terms to me: they only take the rights they need to make the contest work, and they even guarantee a photo credit. Too bad it turns out to be a lie—the the actual submission guidelines and official rules tell a very different story:

5. ENTRIES PROPERTY OF SPONSOR.

All Entries become the property of Sponsor and Administrators and will not be returned. By submitting your Entry, you grant Sponsor and Administrators an irrevocable royalty-free, worldwide right, in all media (now known or later developed) to use, publish, alter or otherwise exploit your Entry. You hereby forever release the Sponsor and Administrators from any and all claims you might have in connection with their use and exhibit of your Entry as set forth above. You also agree to sign any necessary documentation to effectuate that license and release. If you do not want to grant Sponsor and Administrators the foregoing, please do not enter the Contest.

Don’t bend over for these clowns, Microsoft neither needs nor deserves your charity. And always read the fine print.