Scumbags that try to steal your best work

[Picture North Carolina]

I, along with many others, regularly tell photographers here to be careful about entering contests. To read the rules carefully.

It seems to have become the norm, now, to use contest as a "rights grab" to steal photographer's work.

It's bad enough when a small organization, publication, whatever does this. But it's especially disheartening (and troubling) when major corporations do it.

The latest is Costco.

Thankfully, the 2009 photo contest recently closed for entries. Nonetheless, it's worth mentioning that Costco, with this contest, created one of the boldest, most complete rights-grabs I have ever seen, and Costco should be ashamed of themselves.

Here's a link (http://www.costcophotocontest.com/omnicontests/images/custom_assets/assets/m_rules.pdf)to the PDF of the Costco Rules. Because the contest is closed, the PDF may be removed at any time. So below is quoted parts of their rules, unedited.

I'll say it again: Costco, shame on you. You are no longer, at least in my book, considered a good neighbor.

Rules:

9.All entries become the property of Costco. Receipt of entries will not be acknowledged and entries will not be returned. Costco assumes no responsibility for submittedphotographs.

10. Entrant confirms and promises that entry is original and does not infringe the intellectual propertyrights of any third party. By participating, entrant agrees that ownership of the entry and all intellectual property rights in the entry is assigned to Costco, and will do all things necessary to give effect to that assignment.. Entrant agrees to signany further documentation required by Costco to give effect to this clause.Bolding is mine. And remember, in rights grabs such as this you don't only hand over your rights if you win. You hand over your rights simply by entering.

Shame.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, they make no bones about just what it is they want to steal - your best shot. The official theme of the 2009 contest was "Give Us your Best Shot."

The operative word here was "give." And that's exactly what you were doing by entering. At least they were honest about that.

[mikekelley]

That is gross. Wow.

So what happens, if, hypothetically, I enter a photo, and decide that I want to sell it as a print in my gallery, and they catch me?

Scummy move.

[chauncey]

So what happens, if, hypothetically, I enter a photo, and decide that I want to sell it as a print in my gallery, and they catch me?

Ah...you relinquished all rights to the image, tough luck.

Thanks for heads up.

[Snydremark]

Good idea;posting this out here. I just got a pamphlet on this contest from my g/f because she thinks I should be getting my work out there more...but I got to that point of the rules and chucked the whole thing.


Unfortunately, I've found those sorts of riders in almost ALL of the photo contests that I've seen so far; maybe 1 in 10 isn't trying to get great work for free, and specifies that the photographer retains rights.

[mikekelley]

Ah...you relinquished all rights to the image, tough luck.

Thanks for heads up.

That wouldn't stop me from selling it though, lol

**** em

[Naturalist]

Whenever I see contests I go straight to the rules to make sure rights do not transfer to the sponser, or anyone else. I find it interesting that so many people still get involved in these not realizing that you may have a terrific shot that falls short of winning, but that will not stop the sponsor from still using your image in later advertisements since they now own the rights to it and you do not.

Good reminder to all.

[Tee Why]

Now you know how they can sell a crate full of toilet paper for so little. Free photos for their ad campaign.
:(

[mike_d]

That is gross. Wow.

So what happens, if, hypothetically, I enter a photo, and decide that I want to sell it as a print in my gallery, and they catch me?

Scummy move.

Or they sell the pictures to Getty Images, you stick your own picture on your web site, and you get an extortion letter from Getty. Google "Getty Images demand letter" if you don't know what I'm referring to.

[Karl Johnston]

Want revenge? Just don't use their services :) a couple of people here and there doesn't make much of a difference but what we need is someone to do a "SuperSize Me Movie" on Walmart/CostCo and associated big corporate nightmares pulling unethical shenadigans. That movie destroyed Mcdonalds' market share..if people became aware of just how damaging it is to fund these mass businesses maybe they'd be a bit more careful when trusting them with their cash

In an ideal world, though in reality.......probably wishful thinking.

[ImRaptor]

[QUOTE=Naturalist;8793282]Whenever I see contests I go straight to the rules to make sure rights do not transfer to the sponsor, or anyone else.

I do the exact same. I think over half the "contests" I see these days are written like the Costco one.

[argyle]

It's nothing new...probably 99.9% of the contests are set up the same way (and why I refuse to enter any).

[Stickman]

I'm not sure why people enter a photo contest unless its to get attention for their image. The quest for attention certainly has worse outcomes than letting a promoter use your picture.

[Ballen Photo]

You guys are going about this all wrong. I say, get a small group of photographers (say, 10-20 thousand or so) to all go to their nearest McDonalds, and take a good photo of Ole Ronald and submit them.
Can you just imagine all these contest makers getting inundated with great photos of Ronald McDonald? :lol:
Not to mention, I'd like to see them try and go up against Micky Dee's for commercial rights to use a well known icon such as Ronald. ;)
-Bruce

[fivegallon]

You guys are going about this all wrong. I say, get a small group of photographers (say, 10-20 thousand or so) to all go to their nearest McDonalds, and take a good photo of Ole Ronald and submit them.
Can you just imagine all these contest makers getting inundated with great photos of Ronald McDonald? :lol:
Not to mention, I'd like to see them try and go up against Micky Dee's for commercial rights to use a well known icon such as Ronald. ;)
-Bruce

i'm off to macca's... :lol:

[Jon Foster]

You guys are going about this all wrong. I say, get a small group of photographers (say, 10-20 thousand or so) to all go to their nearest McDonalds, and take a good photo of Ole Ronald and submit them.
Can you just imagine all these contest makers getting inundated with great photos of Ronald McDonald? :lol:
Not to mention, I'd like to see them try and go up against Micky Dee's for commercial rights to use a well known icon such as Ronald. ;)
-Bruce

Ha ha ha... I like this idea.

Jon.

[nphsbuckeye]

Want revenge? Just don't use their services :) a couple of people here and there doesn't make much of a difference but what we need is someone to do a "SuperSize Me Movie" on Walmart/CostCo and associated big corporate nightmares pulling unethical shenadigans. That movie destroyed Mcdonalds' market share..if people became aware of just how damaging it is to fund these mass businesses maybe they'd be a bit more careful when trusting them with their cash

In an ideal world, though in reality.......probably wishful thinking.
You should watch Penn & Teller's episode on Walmart - it will blow your mind.

[20droger]

Ah yes, Penn Jillette. The same guy who suggests that, before going on a flight, you should program your laptop so that, when opened on by airport security, it displays a countdown timer set to reach zero at mid-flight. We all know how airport security appreciates a good joke.

[skidzam]

It's not just Costco, go over to the Nat Geo website and look at the rules regarding not only their, "International Photo Contest," but just posting your pics in a personal gallery. From what I read, by entering/posting, you give them free rights to reproduce your photo forever for nada. BTW, you have to pay $12 for every entry into the contest, and the prize...a $1,000 digital camera. Guess who's getting the better end of that deal!

[Karl Johnston]

You should watch Penn & Teller's episode on Walmart - it will blow your mind.
Did :/ and yeah it did lol

[Karl Johnston]

You guys are going about this all wrong. I say, get a small group of photographers (say, 10-20 thousand or so) to all go to their nearest McDonalds, and take a good photo of Ole Ronald and submit them.
Can you just imagine all these contest makers getting inundated with great photos of Ronald McDonald? :lol:
Not to mention, I'd like to see them try and go up against Micky Dee's for commercial rights to use a well known icon such as Ronald. ;)
-Bruce
AMAZZING idea :D

[nphsbuckeye]

Ah yes, Penn Jillette. The same guy who suggests that, before going on a flight, you should program your laptop so that, when opened on by airport security, it displays a countdown timer set to reach zero at mid-flight. We all know how airport security appreciates a good joke.
You can't not think that's a funny joke! I see those people without a sense of humor are perfectly qualified to work for the feds.

[usukshooter]

http://www.photoattorney.com/ often posts alerts about photo contests trying to grab your rights like this. It's a good one to bookmark.

[HappySnapper90]

This seems like standard photo contest rules. The rules said ownership and not copyright. I take ownership being "whatever prints or digital files submitted" meaning they can use them how they wish and don't need to delete them or throw prints away.

Saying that Costco takes "copyright" of the image would be a different story. Most photo contests say the sponsor can use submitted images however they wish. I take the OP's included portions to mean the photography maintains the copyright of the image. I think Canon's park photography contest said that Canon can use the photos in web pages about their photo contest and winners announcement.

[AxxisPhoto]

Sadly, I see this a lot with photo contests. My local zoo is holding a photo contest and has almost the exact wording as those paragraphs.

[SwiftFootTim]

I have a better idea for all of us photographers.

Photobomb these competitions, and not with dSLR images. Surely we all have point and shoots that do wonderful in nighttime imagery, conditions that are less than ideal, etc. We all submit our "best" P&S photos with motion blur, questionable focus, etc. Piles upon piles of images to sort through will make them consider having the contest at all!

[gkarris]

Ahhh, the good old photo contest instead of hiring a Staff or Pro Photographer.

You know, it's like when people ask all their relatives to take pics of the wedding instead of hiring someone.

I'm looking at job boards and I see companies with sales positions open, and you have to submit "a list of 10 prospects" with your resume... hmmmm, I really don't think the job post is for an actual positon... ;)

[Picture North Carolina]

This seems like standard photo contest rules. The rules said ownership and not copyright. I take ownership being "whatever prints or digital files submitted" meaning they can use them how they wish and don't need to delete them or throw prints away.

Saying that Costco takes "copyright" of the image would be a different story. Most photo contests say the sponsor can use submitted images however they wish. I take the OP's included portions to mean the photography maintains the copyright of the image. I think Canon's park photography contest said that Canon can use the photos in web pages about their photo contest and winners announcement.

Uhhhh..... read rule #10 above again. Here's a link (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Intellectual+Property+Rights&ei=917TSuxmj8G3B5jM3NEC&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CA0QkAE) that will help you understand what "intellectual property rights" (which is transferred to Costco simply for participating in the contest) means.

[breal101]

I'm certainly not an IP lawyer but it would seem that without a signed document of some kind the rights wouldn't be really transferred. I guess my question is, does entry to the contest substitute for a signed contract? These guys are really smart though, instead of outright theft from a Flickr type site they try to do an end run and actually make you pay for having your work stolen.

[imahawki]

I haven't entered any yet but the couple contests I've seen explicitly state the opposite. I.e. one contest required a physical print (no electronic entries). They stated that they would not return the print, the winning picture would appear on X brochure, crediting the photographer and all other rights would remain with the photographer. I think that was the recent zoo competition. The other competition was with the local camera store so naturally they were very pro photographer in their rules.

[Picture North Carolina]

...but it would seem that without a signed document of some kind the rights wouldn't be really transferred.

Click the link in the OP.