| Photo Competitions Diary 30 July 2008 |
Competition DiaryListed below are the titles of the competitions added to the competition campaign lists since the previous diary update along with news of any other events that have occured in the campaign since the last diary was published.
24 July 2008
18 July 2008
20 July 2008 28 July 2008
Iconic Britain News - Latest Judges No Longer ListedToday, 2nd August 2008, the judges originally listed for the contest, Mike Selby of Rex, Joanna Lumley - British actress, and Brian Blessed -actor, author, adventurer, are no longer listed on the competition website. We are not aware of any official statements regarding this change to the website. StatementsToday 1st August 2008 the Microsoft Corporation sent the following statement to Pro-Imaging. Microsoft Corporation Statement We are grateful to Pro-Imaging for raising its concerns about the use of photographers' works on the Iconic Britain website. Although this was only a short marketing programme, it’s always very important to Microsoft that we respect the intellectual property rights of others. We apologise that we have not lived up to our ordinarily high standards. We have since taken steps to obtain the rights to use every image to be featured in the subsequent stages of the Iconic Britain competition. We also welcome the invitation by Pro-Imaging to discuss with them best practices when using photographs in similar competitions. Microsoft Corporation Pro-Imaging Response To Microsoft StatementPro-Imaging would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of the above statement issued by Microsoft. We have copied it to all our members who will, along with photographers worldwide, welcome Microsoft's aim to adopt best practices in similar photograph competitions.
Statement From NikonToday, 31st July 2008 the following statement was issued by Nikon; STATEMENT: Nikon would like to confirm that it has withdrawn its support from Microsoft’s Iconic Britain competition. This is due to the feedback and concerns raised by photographers and entrants surrounding the competition mechanic that was developed and promoted by Microsoft. Nikon will fulfil its prize commitment to the winners, however it will not be associated with the competition going forward We appreciate your feedback, understanding and continued support. Pro-Imaging Response To Nikon StatementPro-Imaging would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of the decision taken by Nikon. We know that photographers everywhere will appreciate Nikon's concern for photographers rights. ###
Iconic Britain News to 30 July 2008 Microsoft Website Uses Copyright Images Without PermissionA Pro-Imaging member, scouring the world for rights grabbing wrong doers, came across a most unusual contest in his own country, the United Kingdom. The contest is entitled Iconic Britain and is being promoted by Microsoft. Contestants are required to submit images that in their view contain a subject that is a British Icon. What's unusual about this contest is that the entrants are not required to take or submit their own photos. What they have to do is to submit images to the contest that have been created by other people, and these images are presented by Microsoft for use on their competition website. On the competition website Microsoft say that some of the images being used by them may be subject to third party copyright, yet they have not asked for permission to use them. Nikon UK have supplied one of their general managers, Simon Coleman, as a judge. We wrote to Nikon expressing concern that they were involved with a contest that enables copyright infringement, Nikon never replied to us so we assume they do not share our concern. The cause of this problem is that Microsoft elected to build the competition website using Live Search software. Microsoft clearly need imagery on their website to both promote and support their contest. Without images the contest could not take place. Instead of building their website by using images in the public domain, or getting permission to use images under copyright, they opted to use an indiscriminate piece of software to build their website cheaply. The software that built the website cannot discriminate between images that are in the public domain and those that are subject to copyright. Suppose you had built a website using a similar mechanism to populate your website with images, images under copyright, and invited the public to do something with them. You'd be sued faster than lightning, especially if by mischance you displayed an image on your website that was the copyright of Microsoft. We thought in the last few months we had seen every possible way to make contest rules unfair, but to enable an act which may result in legal action is not something we would ever have dreamt of finding. You can read the report we sent to Microsoft here. After we published our report we received a statement from Microsoft with an instruction that it is to be attributed to a 'Microsoft spokesperson'.
Microsoft Statement About Their Iconic Britain WebsiteAt Microsoft we take the issue of copyright extremely seriously and provide comprehensive information to users of our products and services to ensure that they respect copyright. Full details and guidance on copyright issues can be found on www.iconicbritain.co.uk by clicking on the ‘Respect Copyright’ tab. All images that feature on www.iconicbritain.co.uk are images from the internet that are already in the public domain. When an individual wishes to submit an image into Iconic Britain’s ‘Search for the 100 Images that define Britain’, it is the subject matter (for example, red telephone box or cup of tea) that they are searching for, not a specific image. The site then repeats the individual’s search and displays a dynamic, visual set of search results from images that are already available on the internet and not one specific image. At no point, does www.iconicbritain.co.uk copy, host, or download any image. The images that will make up the final Iconic Britain 100 will be the most voted for subject matter in each category. We will be obtaining copyright licences for a representative image of each of the 100 most popular subject matters, from the relevant rights-owners and also for every image that is used in publicising the Iconic Britain search. If we find out that an image appearing on www.iconicbritain.co.uk is inappropriate, we will remove it. If anyone believes that an image is inappropriate, let us know by filling in the information requested on the ‘Report Image’ button and we will remove the image from the Iconic Britain search. When you read the last paragraph you should mentally substitute the word 'inappropriate' with the phrase 'infringing copyright'. Do that and the paragraph makes more sense, and we are surprised that Microsoft could not have been more clear about what they meant. Pro-Imaging have concluded from reading this statement that Microsoft do not understand what they are doing. The statement does not address any of the concerns raised in the Pro-Imaging report, nor does it explain why they are enabling the public to use images under copyright. It does not explain why Microsoft did not seek permission to use the images on the competition website from the copyright holders. We strongly suggest that every photographer in the world look to see if any images for which they own the copyright are being used on the Microsoft Iconic Britain website. We also strongly recommend you take screen shots now to prove your claim, to sue for copyright infringement, and to prepare invoices for usage. You may also find that some images you licensed exclusively to your clients are also being used on the Microsoft website. Inform your clients of the abuse of their license. Check your images that are used on the Microsoft website and look to see if the metadata has been stripped out, complain about that too as it will make such images potential orphans free for anybody to use should the US Orphan Works Bill come to pass. We suggest you send the following email to Microsoft if you find they are using images which are your copyright on the Iconic Britain website, replacing xxxxx with your name. Dear Sir, This is an instruction that Microsoft remove from the Iconic Britain website the images I’ve found that are the copyright of xxxxxx. I did not give Microsoft permission to use these images on the Iconic Britain website and by doing so they are infringing my copyright. Please ensure that Microsoft remove all my copyright images immediately from the Iconic Britain website. I also require a written assurance saying that Microsoft’s Live Search will not in future use any images that are my copyright on any other website without my written permission to do so. Sincerely xxxxxx Send such emails to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Pro-Imaging have been receiving emails asking us to remove copyright images from the Microsoft Iconic Britain website. Much as we would like to assist those who request us to do this, we are unable to do so. This can only be done by Microsoft.
Why Did Microsoft Launch Iconic Britain?We suspect Microsoft might also be asking this question too. We have been doing some research of news sources on the web and using the information available to us today have pieced together this picture from various news sources. Microsoft have ambitions of competing with Google Image Search, and to do that they must promote Microsoft's Live Search and increase the number of users of that product. They decided to launch a campaign to promote Live Search, and the vehicle for the campaign was to be a photo contest in which Live Search was to play a major part. They also needed another high profile partner, someone with a big name in the imaging world, Nikon would do just fine. Two big names will make a big splash and should get lots of new users for Live search. The competition website, to be called Iconic Britain, needed images to promote the contest, and of course, by default, the product, Live Search. Instead of obtaining images in the public domain free of copyright to place on the website, or simply buying a bunch of RF images, Microsoft decided to populate their website with other peoples imagery, using these images to promote the contest and by default their product, Live Search. Why Microsoft thought it was correct to use other peoples imagery to promote their product, Live Search, to use the imagery freely and without permission, boggles the imagination. Our research has not revealed any answers to that question, and Microsoft won't tell us....
Other NewsGreat Picture & Small Print - Don't Lose Rights In CompetitionsOwn-it and Pro-Imaging have invited four experts in their field, a solicitor, an award-winning photographer and two competition organisers, who will give you an overview of the legal framework, and how to avoid pitfalls when entering competitions. A representative of Pro-Imaging will discuss their campaign against rights grabs in the small print of competitions and the clauses of their ‘Bill of Rights’, a checklist designed to differentiate fair from unfair competitions. Date: Tuesday 9th September 2008 Time: 6-9pm Presentations 6-8pm followed by drinks/networking until 9pm. Location: The October Gallery For further details and to book your place at this event click here.
Pro-Imaging Member Launches Rights On CompetitionOne of Pro-Imaging's members, David Purdie, owner of Purdie Gallery, has launched a landscape photographic competition aimed primarily at amateurs. The rules of this contest are first rate and set an example to all the rights grabbers of what a competition should be. Perhaps one of the ways in which photographers can fight back against the rights grabbing malaise blighting our industry is for photographers to launch their own competitions as David has done. Another photographer who has done this is Chris Coe, he has launched the Travel Photographer of The Year contest, another excellent contest which passed all the Bill of Rights conditions. So take care Rights Grabbers, we photographers are going to take away some of your business!
Kenora Story Published in Canadian NewspaperIn our previous diary we reported the Kenora Tourism Photo Contest. The contest organisers proudly proclaimed in a press release they were going to use the contest as a cheap way of building a commercial image library. Such bold and brazen claims caused more than a little anger amongst the Kenora creative community, and through their continued efforts a local newspaper reporter, Jon Thomson, has interviewed Kenora people and related their views in his report. Pro-Imaging was also interviewed by Jon Thomson, and his excellent report on this issue can be read in the Kenora Daily Miner and News. It is disappointing that the people behind this contest, the City of Kenora and the Kenora Hospitality Alliance (KHA) refused to speak to the reporter and express their viewpoint. Silence seems to be a way of life at Kenora City Hall, they had also refused to discuss the matter with Pro-Imaging when we raised the issue.
Pro-Imaging Campaign Featured in PhotoNet PodcastOn July 21 Photonetcast released a podcast entitled "Photo Competions". The programme includes presentations by professional photographers and is an in depth look at all aspects of photo competitions. The program runs for about 75 minutes, and at around 40 minutes the discussion raises the bad aspect of competitions, rights grabbing. We are pleased to see that during this discussion Pro-Imaging are praised for their campaign against rights grabbing; the discussion regarding Pro-Imaging's campaign begins at around 44 minutes. To listen to the podcast click here.
Support the Bill of Rights for Photography Competitions I Would you like to help in this campaign? If you would like to help here is a very easy way to do it through your website, blog, or forums that you belong to. Please provide links to the following three pages on the Pro-Imaging website - Bill of Rights http://www.pro-imaging.org/content/view/177/156/ Rights On List http://www.pro-imaging.org/content/category/21/69/171/ Rights Off List http://www.pro-imaging.org/content/category/20/68/173/ These links are very important, the more of you that can do this the higher our campaign pages will appear in search engine rankings when people are looking for competitions to enter.
Support the Bill of Rights for Photography Competitions II Here's another simple way to help. Once a week, choose a competition on the Rights Off List, preferably one that's still running, any one that catches your eye, and send an email to the contacts listed in the competition report. Tell them what you think about their rules, or just keep it simple and tell them you've found their competition on the Pro-Imaging Rights Off List and ask them to change the rules to comply with the Bill of Rights. We know that thousands of visitors have viewed our reports, and if each of you just sent one email now and again, who knows what might happen!
RSS Feed We take the opportunity at this point each week to mention that if you want to keep up to date with the competition campaign, click on the orange RSS Feed icon in your browser address bar. You will recieve competition diary updates direct to your RSS feed. Regular visitors know this already, but new visitors arrive all the time!
Contacting Us We welcome notices telling us about contests that are either good or bad. You can use our Competitions Campaign Contact Form to tell us what you've found. We are especially keen to hear about good contests that you think pass our Bill of Rights, at the moment they are more difficult to find but as the campaign continues for the long term, we expect that to get easier. We try and reply to all the notices we receive, but this may not always be possible. We thank you here in advance for any help you offer. We never reveal the names of those who notify us of competitions.
Other Diary Entries Other competition diary entries can be read here.
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