Australia's leading photographic industry bodies, the Australian Commercial and Media Photographers (ACMP) and the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) have lobbied the Australian Tourism Commission (ATC) to amend the terms and conditions of its high profile ‘Nothing Like Australia' competition.

There has been a partial but still significant change, which we want to acknowledge, but as the T&Cs are now, the ACMP still says Don't Enter.

Previously, the original terms and conditions of the competition had Tourism Australia assume all rights and ownership for all images entered to be used by either TA or any third party forever. But still leaving the photographers who entered liable for permissions of locations, subjects and products meaning that photographers were putting themselves at risk by merely entering the competition.

Competitions watchdog for the ACMP and AIPP Mr William Long says, ‘In Australia, we are seeing an increasing number of photography competitions being used to source imagery for commercial purposes. This dilutes the professional photographic industry but also severely jeopardises the rights of enthusiast amateur photographers who are unaware of the stringent terms and conditions associated with their entry.'

As a professional photographer, member of both the AIPP and Australian Commercial and Media Photographers (ACMP), William has read and checked the terms and conditions of nearly 6,000 photography competitions in Australia and is considered an expert in his field. The ACMP united with the AIPP to commence lobbying the ATC just over two weeks ago.

‘These were the worst terms and conditions I'd ever seen from the entrant's position,' said William. ‘Anyone entering the competition would have their entry taken from them and used in any way, shape or form but also opened themselves to be liable for any future use by the Australian Tourism Commission.'

After making joint contact with the ATC, the ACMP started a Social Media campaign on Twitter and blogs starting community debate and alerting possible entrants of possible consequences of entering while negotiating with the ATC through William for sensible change to the terms and conditions. Agencies such as the Australian Copyright Council, The Arts Law Centre and National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) became involved creating a groundswell of disquiet that gained a significant change for photographers' rights.

‘This is an important step forward for the industry and it is a very positive sign that a government body will protect the rights of photographers in this country,' continued William.

In summary, the change is the terms and conditions have changed from a rights grab, to a licencing agreement. As William says, a step in the right direction but still the licence is very aggressive being a perpetual, worldwide and transferable licence. 

The terms and conditions changed are as follows:

Original:

11. By entering the Promotion, Eligible Entrants absolutely and unconditionally assign (and agree to use their best endeavours to procure any relevant third parties to absolutely and unconditionally assign) to the Promoter all right, title and interest in all intellectual property rights in their entry, including ownership of intellectual property rights in any photograph that forms part of an entry.

Changed to:

11. By entering the Promotion, Eligible Entrants grant Tourism Australia a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, transferrable licence to use, reproduce, publish, modify, adapt, distribute, store, run, display, creative derivative works from, cause to be seen or heard and communicate to the public the entry (or including the photograph and text that forms part of the entry) in all media.

In addition, and most significantly, the original Clause below has been omitted from the Terms and Conditions:
45. Entrants agree and acknowledge that all entries and any intellectual property rights subsisting in their entries become and remain the property of the Promoter.

 

 

Author: ACMP