It's their event, they can make the rules. If it was something I was interested in then I would either not take photos or, if I did take photos and they wanted to exercise their so-called rights I would see how far they were prepared to go before I decided whether or not to cave in. For example, if they requested copies I would simply not give them any and see what they were going to do about it. If it seriously looked as if it was going to go to court, then I might give them a high quality 20x30-pixel copy, with no watermark of course. Then we can argue about the meaning of the term 'high quality'.
I suspect this sort of thing would never get to court - I don't think it's been drafted by a competent lawyer, and it would be laughed at. For example, the statement "EBC retains the right" presupposes that they have the right in the first place, which they don't. Ditto "EBC retains ownership" - they aren't the owners of your photographs in the first place, so they can't retain ownership. They might claim it, but unless you expressly give ownership away they can go swivel on my pinky. Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Igor Roshchin > Sent: 19 August 2009 16:53 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Ugly event terms for photographers - What do you think? > > > I just looked at a registration form of one of the > swing-dance events, and was shocked by the rules they > establish about taking photographs at the event: > > Photographs: > By clicking the Submit button and registering for EBC, you > agree that in return for allowing you to photograph during > EBC, that you > will abide by the following rules: If you post images, they CANNOT > have watermarks. If you post images, EBC retains the right to use > them in any way. You CANNOT sell photographs taken at EBC. > If EBC requests copies, you must provide them without > watermarks in ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > high-quality digital format if they originated in digital format, > otherwise prints will suffice. EBC reserves the right to determine > acceptable usage of photographs taken at EBC. > EBC retains ownership of any and all photographs, digital, > film or print, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > taken at EBC. > These rules apply to ALL photos taken at EBC, past, present > and future. > > http://www.ibalboa.com/registration.aspx > > > I can understand events where photography is fully prohibited > (although it is somewhat strange for community-oriented > events like most swing-dance events are). > > I understand that people who wrote this statement may not be > professional event organizers... but they are greedy! > They hire photographers-volunteers without any compensation > and with exclusive rights to photographs... > > Am I too emotional about this? > What do you think? > > Igor > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly > above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
