Pro-Imaging

Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games, #Gov, #Canada

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 fail to meet the standards set out in the Bill of Rights the organisation is added to the Rights Off List and a report such as this produced. We have listed in this report the terms and conditions which failed 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 meet 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ensuring that all their contests will comply with the Bill of Rights, Rights Off reports for that organisation will be unpublished.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 ethical practices set out in the Bill of Rights.

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Countdown Photo Appeal

Closing Date 11 February 2010

RULES

"Terms and conditions:

By submitting a photograph to VANOC via this website, the submitter acknowledges and agrees with the following: (i) the submitter grants to VANOC, its licensees, successors and assigns, all necessary authority, right and license to use, without any compensation or recognition of any kind, the submitter's image and likeness for any legal purpose whatsoever including the right to reproduce the photograph in all forms and in all existing or future developed media and technologies, the right to alter, change, edit or crop the photograph or to combine or incorporate the photograph into other works, and the right to use the photograph alone or in combination with other persons or images or bearing the marks and branding of VANOC or other persons; (ii) the submitter represents and warrants to VANOC that the submitter has obtained the consent and approval of all other persons depicted in the photograph to submit the photograph to VANOC and authorize VANOC to use the image and likeness of such persons upon the terms and conditions outlined herein; (iii) the submitter releases VANOC and its directors, officers, employees and representatives from any and all claims which the submitter may now or in the future have relating to the reproduction, display or distribution of the photograph; and (iv) the submitter agrees to indemnify VANOC, its directors, officers, employees and representatives from and against all costs, damages and expenses VANOC may suffer as a result of a claim, action or cause of action by any person depicted in the photograph."

SPONSORS

None listed

CONTACT

Use this contact form and headline your complaint "For the attention of John Furlong - Chief Executive Officer of the VANOC committee".

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 25 October 2008

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 -

claim copyright
seek waiving of moral rights
fail to give a credit for all free usage.
add, alter, or remove metadata from digital images
seek usage rights other than for solely and exclusively promoting the contest. Note that a book, posters, cards, or a calendar are seen as legitimate ways of promoting the contest and defraying costs.
seek free usage rights in excess of 5 years
use the images commercially without the photographers agreement, and such commercial usage is to be rights managed and limited to 5 years.
make it a condition of winning that an entrant must sign a commercial usage agreement.
fail to publish all documents on the competition website that an entrant may have to sign
fail to name the judges for this or last year's competition
fail to explicitly state all the organisations who will acquire rights to the images
set a closing date more than 18 months after the contest launch date
fail to make clear statements of rights claimed and how images are used.

We have written an Organisers Guide to the Bill of Rights to help organisers draft terms and conditions that respect the rights of entrants and at the same time provide legal protection for the organiser.

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.