Pro-Imaging

**Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. *, #USA**

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ensuring that all their contests will comply with the Bill of Rights, Rights Off reports for that organisation will be unpublished.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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Le Meridien + The Lens

Closing Date 31st January 2009

RULES

"3. Agreement to Official Rules: Participation in this Contest constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and Sponsor’s and Administrator’s decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to this Contest. Winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein. Furthermore, in countries where English is not the native language, entrant confirms his/her understanding of English and the rules as written, and agrees to accept possible following communication in English as well.

For All Submissions: All Submissions will become the exclusive property of Sponsor, and none will be acknowledged or returned. Sponsor shall have the right to edit, adapt and publish any or all of the Submissions, and may use them in any media without attribution or compensation to the entrant, his/her successors or assigns, or any other entity. UPLOADING A SUBMISSION IN THIS CONTEST CONSTITUTES ENTRANT’S IRREVOCABLE ASSIGNMENT, CONVEYANCE AND TRANSFERENCE TO SPONSOR OF ANY AND ALL RIGHT, TITLE AND INTEREST IN THE SUBMISSION INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ALL COPYRIGHTS. TO THE EXTENT ENTRANT HAS MORAL RIGHTS IN THE SUBMISSION, ENTRANT HEREBY WAIVES THOSE RIGHTS AND AGREES TO SIGN ANY NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION THAT MAY BE REQUIRED FOR SPONSOR OR ITS DESIGNEES TO MAKE USE OF THE RIGHTS YOU ARE GRANTING OR WAIVING.

7. Winner Requirements: Each potential winner will be notified by mail, email or phone on or around February 12, 2009. The potential Grand Prize winner for each Prize Pool will be required to execute and return to Administrator, within five (5) days of the date notice or attempted notice is sent, an Affidavit of Eligibility, Liability & Publicity Release (“Affidavit”) (if winner is resident of China, France or the fifty (50) United States); a Declaration of Compliance ("Declaration") (if winner is a resident of Canada); or a Confirmation of Eligibility form, and Liability/Publicity Release ("Confirmation") (if winner is a resident of the United Kingdom) in order to claim his/her prize.

If a potential winner cannot be contacted within three (3) days, fails to execute and return the Affidavit, Declaration or Confirmation within the required time period, is not in compliance with these Official Rules, or prize or prize notification is returned as undeliverable, such potential winner forfeits the prize. If a potential winner is disqualified for any reason, the prize may be awarded to a runner-up, if any, at Sponsor’s sole discretion. Only three (3) alternate winners will be selected through this process, if time permits, after which the applicable prize will remain un-awarded.

Acceptance of any prize shall constitute and signify winner’s agreement and consent that Sponsor and its designees may use the winner’s, name, city, state, likeness, photo, Submission and/or prize information in connection with the Contest for promotional, advertising or other purposes, worldwide, in any and all media now known or hereafter devised, including the Internet, without limitation and without further payment, notification, permission or other consideration, except where prohibited by law. For Residents of France Only: French winners will receive a document called “eligibility/publicity release” designed to obtain his/her free consent to use his/her full names, likeness, city of residence and photographs for promotional purposes and without additional compensation. In any case, the lack of consent does not prevent the winner from receiving the prize."

SPONSORS

None listed

CONTACT

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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 12 December 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.