Wacky contest rules, guess who is the beloved vendor that runs it

I found a contest that was free to enter and I qualified for and saw this in the rules:

Rights to Photograph
:
You retain the copyright in your photo and nothing herein grants ownership of your photo to Sponsor
:
You hereby represent and warrant that (a) you have the right to grant the rights granted herein or, alternatively, you have obtained all necessary rights and permissions to use and submit your photograph in connection with the Promotion and to provide all the rights specified in these official rules; and (b) your photograph and the use thereof as contemplated herein does not and will not violate, misappropriate, or infringe upon any law or regulation or the rights of any third party, including without limitation any copyright, trademark, or any rights of publicity or privacy, or any other intellectual property or proprietary rights.

By submitting a photograph in the Promotion, you hereby grant to Sponsor (and Sponsor's licensees and assigns) a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, nonexclusive license to publish, reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt, edit, modify, translate, create derivative works based upon, and otherwise use and sublicense your photograph, or any portion thereof (including without limitation any names, likenesses, or personas shown in the photograph), in connection with the
Promotion and for any other purpose (including without limitation for entertainment, instruction/education, advertising, marketing, promotional and/or publicity purposes), and to incorporate your photograph into other works in any manner, form, media or technology now known or later developed. Sponsor will have no obligation to publish or use or retain any photograph you submit or to return any photograph or promotion entry materials to you.

You agree that it is your sole responsibility to obtain all permissions and releases necessary for the grant of the rights contained in this paragraph. You also agree to take, at Sponsor's expense,any further action (including, without limitation, execution of affidavits, licenses, and other documents) reasonably requested by Sponsor to effect,
perfect, or confirm Sponsor's rights set forth above in this paragraph. You will not be entitled to compensation for any use by Sponsor, or its agents, licensees or assignees, of your photograph.

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Just reading that would be more than enough for me not to participate in the contest. I am shocked as it comes from a vendor I love and support.

They are pretty much the same rules that almost all contests have these days. I'm not sure what is "wacky" about them. Almost every contest nowadays provides for "rights grabbing". I would actually be surprised if anyone could find an internet-based contest that didn't have these rules.

Some contests only use your image in relation to the contest. This allows it to be used even if you dont win.

dkizzle wrote in post #16319561
Some contests only use your image in relation to the contest.

Really? I would love to find a contest like that. Honestly, I have not seen any such thing in a long, long time. At least not from any of the larger crowd-sourced, internet-based contests.

dkizzle wrote in post #16319561
This allows it to be used even if you dont win.

Right. I think all (or almost all) internet-based contests claim rights to use ALL images entered. Things are different in this regard than they were, say, 5 or 10 years ago.

Here is an other contest rules I entered and made some headway, this is much larger contest:

YOUR RIGHTS: Entrants retain ownership and all other rights to future use of the photographs they enter except for the following: Your entry to the contest constitutes your agreement to allow your entered photographs—and your name, occupation, city, state and country of residence—to be published as Winners or Honorable Mentions in National Wildlife magazine and on the NWF website, and you grant to NWF and its licensees the perpetual, worldwide non-exclusive license to reproduce, distribute, display and create derivative works of the entry (along with a name credit) in connection with the NWPC and promotion for the NWPC, in any media now or hereafter known. Entrants also agree to the use of their entered photos in the National Wildlife magazine’s online Photo of the Week and Caption Contest features.

PS. Obviously you know which contest this is

I agree with Tom. Nothing new or newsworthy here. Rights-grabs like this have been going on for years. Many are held by corporate giants that are everyday names.

And the reason they continue the contests? P. T. Barnum said it best: "There's a sucker born every minute." People blindly, without reading the rules, submit entries. So why wouldn't the corporations take advantage of their stupidity? They are getting good art for free.

And there is only one solution for the stupid people, and it's quite simple: don't be stupid!