CBS 42 contest update!

Just an update on a post I made a few weeks back. Sousa Williams, the web manager over at CBS 42, contacted me today to inform me that the rules for the contest had been updated. Apparently, the management didn't realize the rules were written in such a way that strips a photographer's rights to the submitted photos. The rules now read:

You represent that you own all copyrights in the photograph. As a condition of submitting your photo, you grant to Four Points Media a non-exclusive license to use the photograph for twelve months from the date of submission as follows:.

Four Points Media may, at its sole discretion, publish or otherwise use any photograph submitted by you. Such publication or other use may occur on television, in books, in newspapers and magazines, on the Internet, and/or in or on any other medium of communication now or hereafter devised, and may be for advertising, promotion, the use of trade, and/or other commercial purposes. By submitting a photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) consent to such publication or any other use. As a condition of submitting your photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) unconditionally and irrevocably waive all claims to compensation for use of the photograph by Four Points, and/or any rights with respect to such use you may have under copyright law, the right to publicity, the right to privacy, the law of defamation, and any other common law or statutory claims under the laws of any jurisdiction.

You represent that you have been given the authority by each individual depicted in a photograph to bind such individual to these release terms.

You must be 18 years of age or older to submit a photo.

It's that first paragraph that really strikes me as being photographer friendly. I don't yet know if it's a panacea of photography goodness, but it's certainly better than the absolute rights grab they were doing before. I've contacted the guys at Pro Imaging to get their input on this change because of their previous work in getting contests to change their rules for the betterment of photogs everywhere.

So far, the Austin Flickr community has received the notice with mixed reviews. Some still feel the new rules continue to abuse the photographer by not setting terms on what that license constitutes. Others, like me, think it's certainly a step in the right direction.

More to come as I hear it.