Pro-Imaging

PDN; Pix Digital Imaging Contest ends 15 August 2008 

The Rules of this Contest

Listed below are extracts from the rules of this competition. These extracts detail the rights being claimed from entrants. The competition website references two set of terms and conditions, a set of terms and conditions that refer specifically to the contest itself, and a set of terms and conditions that refer specifically to the use of the competition website.

On the contest website the contest terms and conditions state - "These conditions set out the entire agreement between Photo District News and you relating to your use of this website.", but confusingly, the competition website refers to another "Terms of Use" and these go on to claim further rights from those making submissions. Is this an error or not? We have no way of knowing.

In analysing the rules of this contest both sets of terms and conditions have been taken into account by Pro-Imaging. To avoid this confusion there should only be one set of terms and conditions referred to on the competition website and we would strongly recommend PDN makes such a change.

From the Contest T&C's

"Submission of an entry acknowledges the right of PDN to use it for publication in the November 2008 issue exhibiting the PIX Digital Imaging Contest, PDNonline.com and exhibition and promotions related to PIX Digital Imaging Contest 18 months following the contest. 

CONSENT AGREEMENT: Submitted materials will not be returned. Photo District News is not responsible for the loss or damage of any entry. Submission of an entry to the contest automatically constitutes the contestant's acceptance of all conditions set forth in the above rules. It also acknowledges the right of Photo District News to use the entry for publication in the November 2008 issue, PIX Digital live gallery, the PIX Digital Contest Web site and PDNonline.com Web site.

Except as explicitly permitted under this or another agreement with Photo District News or one of its subsidiaries, no portion or element of this website or its Content may be copied or retransmitted via any means and this website, its Content and all related rights shall remain the exclusive property of Photo District News or its licensors unless otherwise expressly agreed.

Photo District News NEITHER ENDORSES NOR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR RELIABILITY OF ANY OPINION, ADVICE, STATEMENT, INFORMATION OR OTHER CONTENT MADE AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THIS SITE"

From The Website Terms of Use

"3b. You acknowledge that any submissions you make to the Service may be edited, removed, modified, published, transmitted, and displayed by Nielsen and you waive any moral rights you may have in having the material altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you.

3c. By submitting information to the Service, you hereby grant to Nielsen, its affiliates and related entities (collectively, “Nielsen”) the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, copy, modify, display, distribute and reproduce all such materials in any form, media, software or technology of any kind now existing or developed in the future. You shall also indemnify, defend and hold Nielsen harmless for any liability, damage, claim and loss arising due to the use or distribution of those materials. You further grant Nielsen the right to use your name or user name in connection with the reproduction or distribution of such material."
 

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 

• Pass, All photographers entering the contest retain their copyright
• Fail, The contest does not require any entrants to waive moral rights
• Fail, Rules state 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, A statement clarifying the commercial usage position is present as per The Bill of Rights
• 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

• Fail, The organisations that acquire rights are all named
• Pass, 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

This contest fails The Bill of Rights because -

If you submit an image to this contest, although you can continue to license your image non-exclusively, you will lose forever the right to exclusively license your image. However, "Nielsen, its affiliates and related entities" (it does not detail who the affiliates and entities are) have gained the right to use all submitted images for ever in any medium they choose.

The rule in the website terms of use requiring the waiving of moral rights for submissions made through the website is viewed as unacceptable in a photo competition. In the United States, Congress legislated for a waiver of moral rights in the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990, but only by a signed, written agreement specifying the work and the precise uses to which a waiver applies. The PDN contest rules and website terms of use have made no provision for such a signed written agreement and the demand made is in fact legally invalid.

Because the contest website refers explicitly to two sets of terms and conditions there is uncertainty as to which set is predominent, or if both apply.

We are unable to recommend this competition. Enter a contest on the The Rights On List instead.

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PDN Response

We made a copy of the above report available to PDN on the 10th of August 2008. In our email to PDN we said we would be happy to correct anything in the report that was incorrect. We also said that we planned to publish the report on the 14th August, but if they wished to adjust or clarify the rules to let us know and we would delay the report for a reasonable period while the changes were made.

We regret to say we received no response from PDN regarding the above the above report.

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Organisations - Photo District News (PDN),  Nielsen Business Media, Inc., Photoserve.com, Photoplus, Crumpler, Samsung

Judges - 

• Robert Bowen - Robert Bowen Studios, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Deborah Dragon - Photo Editor - Rolling Stone
• Julieanne Kost - Senior Digital Imaging Evangelist - Adobe Systems Inc., This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Lisa Oropallo - Associate Director of Art Buying - Digitas Inc.
  

Contact - Send enquiries about this contest to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

© 2008 Pro-Imaging; Last updated on 10 August 2008

The above text may be reproduced providing the Pro-Imaging copyright notice is displayed with a link to the Pro-Imaging website.

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.