Pro-Imaging

CBS 42/Precision Camera Photo Contest - Weekly

The Rules of this Contest

Listed below are extracts from the rules of this competition. These extracts detail the rights being claimed from entrants.

NB! This contest has two sets of terms and conditions each of which claim different rights from entrants. For the purposes of testing this contest we have tested the total set of rules and if a condition is failed in either set of rules the contest is deemed to have failed the condition concerned.

On this page the contest claims these rights -

"Four Points Media may, at its sole discretion, publish or otherwise use any photograph submitted by you. Such publication or other use may occur on television, in books, in newspapers and magazines, on the Internet, and/or in or on any other medium of communication now or hereafter devised, and may be for advertising, promotion, the use of trade, and/or other commercial purposes. By submitting a photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) consent to such publication or any other use. As a condition of submitting your photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) unconditionally and irrevocably waive all claims to compensation for use of the photograph by Four Points, and/or any rights with respect to such use you may have under copyright law, the right to publicity, the right to privacy, the law of defamation, and any other common law or statutory claims under the laws of any jurisdiction."

On this page the contest claims these rights -

You acknowledge that Four Points Media Group may, at its sole discretion, publish or otherwise use any photograph submitted by you. Such publication or other use may occur on television, in books, in newspapers and magazines, on the Internet, and/or in or on any other medium of communication now or hereafter devised, and may be for advertising, promotion, the use of trade, and/or other commercial purposes. By submitting a photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) consent to such publication or any other use.

As a condition of submitting your photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) unconditionally and irrevocably waive all claims to compensation for use of the photograph, and/or any rights with respect to such use you may have under copyright law, the right to publicity, the right to privacy, the law of defamation, and any other common law or statutory claims under the laws of any jurisdiction.

Results of Testing the Rules

Listed below are the results of the tests we carried out on this competition's rules. The tests are all based on the standards set out in The Bill of Rights. By adopting these standards competition organisers can create competition rules that meet the needs of organisers and are fair and respectful to the rights of entrants. For each test a result is given which can be Pass of Fail. Competitions that pass all these tests go on The Rights On List, those that don't go on The Rights Off List.

If the rules are vague and we cannot determine whether the rules pass a particular test or not the result is shown as Unclear.  Where a test is not necessary the result is shown as N/A.

Click on any result below for more information about that specific test.

1 Copyright & Moral Rights 

• Fail, All photographers entering the contest retain their copyright
• Fail, The contest does not require any entrants to waive moral rights
• Fail, A credit is always given to the photographer when the image is published
  
• Pass, All the documents that must be completed by each entrant to participate in or win a contest are shown
  

2 Free Usage Durations Claimed

• Fail, The organisers free usage is time limited as per The Bill of Rights
  
• Fail, The sponsors free usage is time limited as per The Bill of Rights
• N/A, Book usage is time limited as per The Bill of Rights
  
• Fail, free usage only promotes the contest or is used for a book 

3 Commercial Usage Rights Claimed

• Fail, Commercial usage is rights managed & time limited as per The Bill of Rights
• Pass, Entrants are not required to sign commercial usage licenses

4 Declarations

• Pass, The organisations that acquire rights are all named
• Fail, This (or last) years Judges are named along with brief bio details

5 Contest End Date

• Pass, The contest end date is within 16 months of the contest being announced

Conclusions

The rules of this contest fail virtually every condition in The Bill of Rights. Enter this contest and you will lose ALL rights to your photograph. Four Points Media will own the photograph and you must not use it ever again, if you were to enter it to another contest, or publish it  for example, you could be sued for copyright infringement.

Note that although Four Points Media claim copyright they have not obtained consent to the transfer of the copyright by means of a written agreement signed by the copyright holder. This is invalid under U.S. copyright law, and if Four Points Media use the photograph on the basis that they own the copyright this can be challenged in court.

This contest cannot be recommended. 

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Organisations - KEYE-TV, Four Points Media Group owned by Cerberus Capital Management

Judges - Public voting

Contact - Send enquiries and views about this contest here

© 2008 Pro-Imaging; Last updated on 9 June 2008

The above text may be reproduced providing the Pro-Imaging copyright notice is displayed.

Text reproduced above in quotes has been extracted from the competition website for the purposes of review in this report.

NB. If the competition rules are changed after updated date shown above it is the competition organisers responsibility to notify Pro-Imaging of changes made.