Anthropics Technology Ltd t/a Portrait Professional

About this Organisation

Anthropics Technology Ltd is a UK based software R&D company specialising in graphics and animation software and began its commercial life by developing animation software for companies in the mobile telecoms industry.

In 2006 the company expanded its range of software by developing Portrait Professional. This is marketed to photographers and other professionals who require specialised software to assist in the retouching of portraits.  Anthropics Technology Ltd trades under various brand names including Portrait Professional, Portrait Professional Studio and FaceStore.

About this Report

Photo competitions and image appeals are notified to us by our contributors from around the world. Listed below are some photo competitions or image appeals promoted by the above organisation which have not met the standards set out in the Bill of Rights.

If the terms and conditions of a contest or appeal do not comply with the standards set out in the Bill of Rights a report such as this produced and a link to it is added to the Rights Off List. We have listed in this report the terms and conditions not in compliance with the Bill of Rights to help the organiser carry out a review. The extracted terms and conditions are shown below in italics.

For advice on why failing to comply with the standards set out in the Bill of Rights is a serious issue please read this article.

If at some future date a competition organiser decides to join the Bill of Rights Supporters Group, thus ensuring that all their contests will comply with the Bill of Rights, the Rights Off report for that organisation's competition(s) will be unpublished.

The purpose of the Bill of Rights Campaign is to provide education to the public about the value of rights and to encourage photography competition organisers to adopt the standards set out in the Bill of Rights.

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Email Appeal for Images By Portrait Professional Team

Issued 16 September 2010

RULES

ON 16th September we received an email which had been sent by "The Portrait Professional Team" to various photographers. The email was an appeal for photographers to send them images (for free) and began as follows -

"Want to get worldwide free publicity for yourself and your photos?

We are looking for images of people to use on our website, in our magazine adverts, in our online advertising campaigns and more. Our website has millions of visitors from around the world, and we advertise in numerous major English language photography magazines such as Popular Photography in the USA and Digital Photo in the UK. You will be prominently credited if we use any of your images."

The email went on to explain that photographers could send as many photos as they wished, then set out in detail the characteristics of the photographs they were looking for and provided an email address that photographs were to be sent to.  The email concluded with the following legal statement -

"Please note that by submitting a photo(s), you are giving Anthropics Technology Ltd (makers of Portrait Professional) full rights to use your original images and the images as altered by us, in our marketing and advertising, offline and online, in whatever way they see fit, subject to the photo(s) being prominently credited to you. This includes digitally processing the image and displaying both the original image and the processed version simultaneously. If you are not happy with these terms, please do not submit any images. Do ensure you only send images for which you own the copyright and the individual depicted has consented to the image being submitted on these terms above."

PRO-IMAGING COMMENT

It is clear from this email that Anthropics Technology Ltd are seeking donation of images in order to promote their own product range, i.e. commercial usage of others intellectual property, but are not offering to pay for a license to use the images.

This practice is prohibited by the Bill of Rights which only permits charities to make an appeal for IP rights by means of a donation mechanism. Anthropics Technology Ltd is not a charity. Normal practice within any commercial organisation is to pay for the resources it needs. Anthropics Technology Ltd could, for example, have commissioned a photographer to create the imagery they need to promote their product range but chose not to do so.

The reader is referred to the Bill of Rights for more detail regarding the above issues.

Pro-Imaging wrote to Andrew Berend, the CEO of Anthropics Technology, on 20 September 2010 along with a copy of the above report inviting his company to support the Bill of Rights. There was an initial response that day from Mr Berend indicating that his first impression was positive and that he would look into it further in a couple of days when he returned from a business trip.

On 4 October we wrote again to Mr Berend as we had not received any further response. We asked if we could help with any concerns he may have about the Bill of Rights.  By the 13 October 2010, still with no response from their CEO, we concluded that Anthropics Technology wished to retain their terms and conditions requesting 'free to use' photographs for their product marketing and advertising. 

Anthropics Technology were given the opportunity to make a statement that would be published in full in this report, the opportunity was not accepted.

Anthropics Technology state that the photographs they use will be prominently credited. Credits don't pay bills. The intended use of the photographs donated to Anthropics Technology is to show how much they can be improved by means of their product. It is highly unlikely that a photographer would normally wish to promote his work in that way. Only the finished article would be promoted by the photographer.

Finally, it is possible that Anthropics Technology Ltd could have decided to negotiate licenses for the photographs they wish to use but not communicate further with Pro-Imaging.  We would hope to hear that they have decided to do that, perhaps someone could let us know?

SPONSORS

None.

CONTACT 

To complain to the appeal organiser use this email address This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Pro-Imaging have notified this organisation about the publishing of this report [comment to be added, this can include any statement that Anthropics Technology Ltd wishes to make].

You can help the Bill of Rights campaign by complaining to the organiser urging them to change their terms and conditions.  If time is at a premium for you we have prepared a complaint email which you can copy and send to the organiser.

The Bill of Rights campaign depends on your active support, your help will make a difference.

Updated on 14 October 2010

The Bill of Rights Standards for Photography Competitions

Competitions which meet all the standards set out in the Bill of Rights do not do any of the following -

© Bill of Rights Supporters Group

The above text may be reproduced providing a link is given to the Bill of Rights For Photography Competitions.

Any text reproduced above in italics has been extracted from a competition website for the purposes of review.

Organisations who would like to be promoted as a Bill of Rights Supporter and have their competitions promoted on the Rights On List can use this contact form. One of the campaign team will get in touch with you.