Microsoft's Oversight Correction

A wrinkle occured when the language was presented for the Microsoft Future Pro Photographer contest was announced, whereby a "cut & paste" error was made by a paralegal drafting the contest rules, which read:

5. ENTRIES PROPERTY OF SPONSOR.
All Entries become the property of Sponsor and Administrators and will not be returned. By submitting your Entry, you grant Sponsor and Administrators an irrevocable royalty-free, worldwide right, in all media (now known or later developed) to use, publish, alter or otherwise exploit your Entry. You hereby forever release the Sponsor and Administrators from any and all claims you might have in connection with their use and exhibit of your Entry as set forth above. You also agree to sign any necessary documentation to effectuate that license and release. If you do not want to grant Sponsor and Administrators the foregoing, please do not enter the Contest. Sponsor and Administrators are not obligated to use the Entry, even if it has been selected as a Winning entry.

These concerns were raised by those involved in the contest, and were corrected to read:

"5. Rights to Use Entries.
As a condition of accepting a prize, you agree to grant Microsoft an irrevocable royalty-free worldwide license to reproduce and display the image, credited with your first and last name, in print and on the web for the purposes of only promoting this contest."

(Read At this Link)

That certainly is a much better resolution.

However, your "prize winning" and "prize accepting" entry could mean that if you forgo the prize (i.e. you don't accept the prize), then that right is not granted? It sure reads that way.

In either event, this is much better. Thanks Microsoft for correcting that, and to the Sponsors, who made inquiries that gave weight to the concerns that many of you e-mailed me with!

---

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.