Next time you send photos...

Hey Guilad-is that the new re-worked Guardian contract?

Hi john, not guardian. i’d rather not write who it’s from here, LS is not really what it used to be.

Strewth-I was only joking about The Guardian of course,(they are re-drawing their agreement with freelance photographers). But you mean this is a REAL T & C for a publication? I’d assumed it was a joke. Even my local BBC who regularly tout for photos of news,events and weather photos, gives the photographer a creditline.
I can understand amateurs wanting to see their name flashed up on the telly with no financial reward, but why would anyone give their photos away and agree to have them sold on without even a credit to keep them happy?
I’d love to know who is getting away with that Guilad-how about a PM? Promise I won’t spill the beans.You can trust me-I’m a photojournalist!!

But there is the point they are “UNSOLICITED’ submissions.

Perhaps they are trying to stop people sending them photos they don’t want. I mean who sends photos to people without checking whether they want to see them?

I mean I will send a link to my website to potential clients, but I wouldn’t send pictures unless someone asked to see them.

It still sucks the wazoo though, ‘cos I guess there always is the ‘tempter’ pic…

I used to send unsolicited pics to The Guardian all the time when I was first starting out on national papers-80% of the time they liked them, used them and I got paid :-))
The 20% they didn’t use either sold elsewhere or eventually most got sold as stock pics somewhere or other.

By the way Lisa, “sucks the wazoo” is a great aussie expression !!

But JR you probably knew the people you were sending them to, yes?

Yes, you are of course right in that I had touched base with them beforehand. Wasn’t so random that I just sent stuff in without seeing the pic editor and showing him my crappy portfolio previously!

I do remember having read this in a publication one of these last months.

It’s not a joke, it’s 100% real. many photographers send a sample pdf or lo-res to email lists by themselves or through distribution services after finishing an “unsolicited” story, hoping someone will bite. this is just the small print, i haven’t checked but i’m sure there’s more than one company that does that. this one happens to be one of the world’s largest. and you really have to search for it, they don’t automatically send it to you.

“throughout the universe in perpetuity” that’ll really tick off my bosses at The Martian Telegraph.

one™, two®, three©.
i’m just going to trademark everything from now on™.

Hey Rich-I’m just fine thanks!!
Guilad-that’s a good idea. I never let any pics out without my copyright warning in the metadata. Surprises me how many photographers distribute their stuff without even checking the copyright box. Even though all my pics go out marked with a legal warning it hasn’t stopped a few idiots trying to use them nicked off my website. They have always discovered thats a big mistake when I find out though :-)

“throughout the universe in perpetuity…”

no wonder the UFOs dont want to land here. The E.T.s’ are sitting, assuming they sit, on the biggest story in Earth’s history because they want to make sure they’re gonna get paid for the pics.

Do E.T’s use alien bees?

not if they dont have green cards

These ‘contracts’ should be listed under “Achtung, minen!”

Why is everyone taking this so seriously when the origin of the quotation is not indicated?

Does “in perpetuity” mean uses of the pictures prior to them being taken? I can see this being a big problem with Time Traveller Monthly, who I regularly sell pictures to.

“In perpetuity” means “For an indefinite period of time; forever”

I think John wants to know if that indefinite period of time covers the past. In other words, can the picture be used, by a time traveler, before it is actually taken?

No, it can’t. Their grabbing your copyright extends into the past as well. In short, dont even think about taking that picture, bubba, or they’ll turn the lawyers loose on you!

It’s just something about slavery that Guilad dug up somewhere. The chains are virtual.

Put the first line, up to the XXX, into google with quotes around it and you’ll find the culprit… Looks like a case to attach the Reasonable Agreement to the end of your submissions: http://smallprint.netzoo.net/reag/

Actually that’s not them.they don’t even post it online, you have to download a PDF from their website to find out™.

nothing virtual about these chains©.

hehehehehehe this is a good one

“throughout the universe in perpetuity…”

sometimes i wonder what drives these people to do such things. is it greed, hatred, sheer stupidity… or what? surgically orchestrated aggression… claiming exclusive rights to your work in small print!!!

sad!

is it greed, hatred, sheer stupidity… or what?

All of the above, including the what

Who are you talking about? What is the source of the quotation?

Barry: as i said, one of the larger companies© (in video and photo)

Guilad: Well, that pins it down. Why this uncharacteristic shyness on your part?

Disclaimer: I am no lawyer… however, at least here in Norway such one sided statements doesn’t hold. In the so called “Kokkin case” the court spelled it out quite clearly: the copyright holder must explicitly agree to the terms before they can be considered valid. To simply post terms where all sort of rights are grabbed , for example on a website, doesn’t automatically make the terms valid/legal. The copyright holder must agree, and the burden of proof is not on the copyright holder, but with the company that claims to have gotten your material for free, to be used “in perpetuity” etc. In other words company X would have to produce a document showing you had signed over you rights, or they can make no such claims.
Of course rules are different all over the world….

Barry: it’s called self preservation. (and forebodingness)

I googled the first line as Mr Brauer suggested and got this
http://www.goodfilms.co.uk/eng/submissions.html

The website does not hide the terms and conditions it’s at the bottom of all the pages on the site. You just need to be aware. Never sign or submit anything until you see the terms.
If the client potential or otherwise has no clearly defined T&C’s either on their website or otherwise ask them to provide a copy. If in doubt just add the same shit in the body of all emails where you attach sample images.

I always embed this in the body of the email.

No photo attachments may be copied or retransmitted via any means without the prior permission of Mark Seager.
All photographs remain the property of Mark Seager and are protected under United Kingdom and International copyright laws.
© Mark Seager 2008

Always Read the Terms and conditions or get shafted.

Pay the photographer!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

Enjoy!