Pro-Imaging

Bill of Rights Condition 2

Organisers Free Usage to Promote the Contest must be Time Limited

One of the prime motivating factors in developing the Bill of Rights for photo competitions was to set out guidelines, which if followed by contest organisers, would ensure that commercial image libraries could not be built by running photographic competitions.

It is well known that the aim of many competitions is to build image libraries at little cost, often such contests make it clear by the rules they publish what they are doing, the sort of rule that goes like this -

The language will vary of course from contest to contest but essentially they are claiming the rights to use your images for ever and profit from them to the maximum extent possible - and you will never see a penny. Building vast image libraries from image submissions to contests is hugely damaging to the interests of all photographers every where, amateur and professional.

With vast image libraries that can be freely used who needs photographers?

One of the provisions in the Bill of Rights to combat this behaviour is to set a time limit on free usage to promote the contest. Images used by the organiser to promote the competition, can only be used for 5 years, the 5 years starting from date on which the contest winners are announced for the specific contest the images were submitted to.

At the end of that period an organiser complying with the Bill of Rights no longer has any right to use an image submitted to that contest for any purpose, and should they wish to do so the organiser would need to agree a commercial usage license with the photographer concerned.

If an organiser claims free usage without limit of time it means you will lose forever the valuable right to license your image exclusively. You will still be able to license your image non-exclusively.

We cannot recommend any photographic competition which fails this test.

Exemption

Certain very limited exceptions to relaxing the five year rule for organisers may be granted on a case by case basis with regard to images selected by the judges as winning entries, but only for non-commercial usage, usage solely and exclusively to promote the competition and the photographer. Where this exemption is granted the test result of the contest's rules for this  Bill of Rights condition will be marked Exempt.

Some of the exceptional factors considered include the prestige of the competition in the photographic world, the distinction and honour accruing to those contributing winning images through exhibitions and specialised peer reviews, any benefit to the photographer through print sales for example, and technical specialism's that may be required to enter the contest.

Ultimately this will have to be a judgement by Pro-Imaging to take account of any representations made.