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From the British Journal of Photography May 20 2009
20 May 2009
Top shooters attack rights-grabs
Two of Britain's top contemporary documentary photographers, Martin Parr and Simon Norfolk, are protesting rights-grabbing competitions launched by the National Trust and Google, BJP has learnt.
Norfolk has refused a National Trust editorial commission in protest at a 'rights-grab' competition run by the charity.
The move comes less than a month after BJP revealed that the National Trust had asked Alamy to remove images of its properties, while it promoted its competition, which would see amateur photographers give all rights to their images to the Trust's commercial arm.
Now, Norfolk has pulled out of the editorial shoot, which also involves Parr and another renowned photographer. The shoot, which was commissioned to appear in a weekend newspaper supplement, will be used to promote a new National Trust photo competition.
'I was wondering why I had so little time to shoot the commission,' Norfolk tells BJP. 'That's when I was told that the National Trust was moving over to user-derived content. When I asked what the terms of that competition were, the National Trust said that it would take all of the rights to the pictures submitted by amateurs photographers.'
Furious, Norfolk refused to have his name linked to the competition. 'I was not prepared to help promote a rights-grabbing competition,' he tells BJP.
The National Trust has now changed the competition's terms and conditions.
'In drafting the terms and conditions for the new national photography competition we are using the Pro-Imaging bill of rights as our guidance,' says a spokesman for the National Trust, referring to a code of best practices released by a pro-photography group. 'The terms and conditions are still being finalised but, by following this guidance, we hope that concerns regarding image rights will be fully addressed. None of the entries for this competition are intended for the National Trust Photo Library.'
Parr, who is also involved in the project, has accepted the editorial commission, but Magnum Photos has temporarily removed its support for the competition while it takes another look at the updated terms and conditions.
But Parr has hit out at Google for running another rights-grabbing competition. The Google Photography Prize, which is judged by Parr among other experts and carries a one-day workshop with the documentary photographer, allows Google to 'retain ownership of all intellectual property rights in the entry (including moral rights)'.
Any and all media
Furthermore, entrants grant Google and its affiliates 'a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licence to edit, modify, cut, rearrange, add to, delete from, copy, reproduce, adapt, publish, exploit and use the Photographs themselves and the content of and elements embodied in the Photographs, including any names, locations and likenesses, for the duration of the rights, in any and all media, including but not limited to digital and electronic media, computer, and audiovisual media (whether now existing or hereafter devised), and specifically for use as an iGoogle theme, in any language, throughout the world, and in any manner, for trade, advertising, promotional, commercial, or any other purposes without further review, notice, approval, consideration, or compensation'.
Under pressure from Magnum Photos and Parr, who threatened to withdraw their support for the competition, Google has now changed the terms and conditions. 'Google has now rewritten the rules for this competition,' Parr says in a Flickr post. 'The usage is limited to iGoogle and there is an opt-out clause after five years. This has been approved by Magnum's legal representatives. So I have agreed to continue as a judge.'
20 May 2009
Top shooters attack rights-grabs
Two of Britain's top contemporary documentary photographers, Martin Parr and Simon Norfolk, are protesting rights-grabbing competitions launched by the National Trust and Google, BJP has learnt.
Norfolk has refused a National Trust editorial commission in protest at a 'rights-grab' competition run by the charity.
The move comes less than a month after BJP revealed that the National Trust had asked Alamy to remove images of its properties, while it promoted its competition, which would see amateur photographers give all rights to their images to the Trust's commercial arm.
Now, Norfolk has pulled out of the editorial shoot, which also involves Parr and another renowned photographer. The shoot, which was commissioned to appear in a weekend newspaper supplement, will be used to promote a new National Trust photo competition.
'I was wondering why I had so little time to shoot the commission,' Norfolk tells BJP. 'That's when I was told that the National Trust was moving over to user-derived content. When I asked what the terms of that competition were, the National Trust said that it would take all of the rights to the pictures submitted by amateurs photographers.'
Furious, Norfolk refused to have his name linked to the competition. 'I was not prepared to help promote a rights-grabbing competition,' he tells BJP.
The National Trust has now changed the competition's terms and conditions.
'In drafting the terms and conditions for the new national photography competition we are using the Pro-Imaging bill of rights as our guidance,' says a spokesman for the National Trust, referring to a code of best practices released by a pro-photography group. 'The terms and conditions are still being finalised but, by following this guidance, we hope that concerns regarding image rights will be fully addressed. None of the entries for this competition are intended for the National Trust Photo Library.'
Parr, who is also involved in the project, has accepted the editorial commission, but Magnum Photos has temporarily removed its support for the competition while it takes another look at the updated terms and conditions.
But Parr has hit out at Google for running another rights-grabbing competition. The Google Photography Prize, which is judged by Parr among other experts and carries a one-day workshop with the documentary photographer, allows Google to 'retain ownership of all intellectual property rights in the entry (including moral rights)'.
Any and all media
Furthermore, entrants grant Google and its affiliates 'a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licence to edit, modify, cut, rearrange, add to, delete from, copy, reproduce, adapt, publish, exploit and use the Photographs themselves and the content of and elements embodied in the Photographs, including any names, locations and likenesses, for the duration of the rights, in any and all media, including but not limited to digital and electronic media, computer, and audiovisual media (whether now existing or hereafter devised), and specifically for use as an iGoogle theme, in any language, throughout the world, and in any manner, for trade, advertising, promotional, commercial, or any other purposes without further review, notice, approval, consideration, or compensation'.
Under pressure from Magnum Photos and Parr, who threatened to withdraw their support for the competition, Google has now changed the terms and conditions. 'Google has now rewritten the rules for this competition,' Parr says in a Flickr post. 'The usage is limited to iGoogle and there is an opt-out clause after five years. This has been approved by Magnum's legal representatives. So I have agreed to continue as a judge.'
