Bertelsmann AG t/a Random House Inc t/a Vintage Publishing, Germany

About This Organisation

Bertelsmann AG t/a Random House Inc t/a Vintage Publishing, Germany

About this Organisation

Vintage Publishing focuses on publishing quality literary fiction and non-fiction. It is part of the Random House Group, the largest, at the time of writing, general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It in turn is owned by Bertlesmann AG, a German media corporation. Wikipedia

About this Report

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Competitions or appeals seeking submissions of creative works from the public, works such as photos, videos, poems, music, etc., are reviewed by the Artists' Bill of Rights campaign. The reviews are to help you decide whether or not you should participate in the competition or appeal. When you create a work (e.g. a photo) the law automatically makes you the sole beneficiary of certain rights over that work. These rights are called intellectual property rights. Note: Rights for works created in the course of employment are usually owned by the employer (i.e. works for hire).

Rights have a value and you are free to decide what that value is. If a person or organisation wants to use your work to promote something, you have the right to refuse permission or to set a fee for a specific use. More information about intellectual property rights and their value to you can be read in our Guide to Rights & Licensing.

How this Organisation's Competitions or Appeals are Listed

Listed below in order of closing date are the competitions or appeals promoted by this organisation that we have reviewed. For each we detail how their terms and conditions will exploit your rights. To read our review(s) just click on any competition/appeal title below.

CLICK HERE to see Shoot a cover for an edition of Oliver Twist; closes 13 January 2012

Shoot a cover for a new vintage edition of Oliver Twist

TERMS AND CONDITIONS (extracts)

The reason for this 'competition' is to enable Random House Group Ltd obtain an image it can use on a book cover. Doing this as a 'competition' means that rules can be set such that Random House Group Ltd doesn't have to pay anyone for their creativity. This is a competition with no prize and no one gains any distinction by winning it. The competition exists to exploit the public's creativity. Apart from not being paid, you will lose your moral rights in the work you submit to this 'contest'.

The competition is promoted by the United Kingdom Guardian News and Media Ltd.

10. By submitting an entry to the Competition, You grant GNM and the Random House Group Ltd:

a. Permission for your entry to be published on guardian.co.uk and a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual licence (with a right to sub-license), to use, republish, edit and/or modify your Competition entry in any/all media (including in electronic format and hard copy) for purposes connected with the Competition and as described in these terms and conditions; and

b. The right to use your name and town or city of residence for the sole purpose of identifying You as the author of your entry and/or as a winner of the Competition.

You also hereby waive all your moral rights in your entry.

The Prize

15. One winner will have his/her photograph printed on the cover of Vintage Classics' new edition of the novel "Oliver Twist", which is expected to be published in March 2012. However, please note that the exact publish date is to be confirmed and may be changed.

16. Please note that the licence You grant under paragraph 10 of these terms and conditions means that you will not be entitled to receive any royalties or any other kind of payment in the event that your photo is selected as the winner and is used for the cover of the "Oliver Twist" novel as referred to in this terms and conditions.

26. The Promoter of the Competition is Guardian News & Media Limited whose address is Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Any complaints regarding the Competition should be sent to this address.

HOW THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS WILL AFFECT YOU

The following notes explain how the above terms and conditions affect your rights in respect of any works you submit to the above competition or appeal.

The terms and conditions require you to waive your moral rights. This means you will not be able to object to how your work is used in future, such as it being altered in a manner you may find derogatory, or if it is used to promote a product or cause you find objectionable. You have also lost your right to be credited as the author of your work.
The terms and conditions are granting the organiser use of your work for ever. You have forever lost the exclusive right the law gave you to control use of and be paid for your work. You will never be able to license exclusive use of ant work you submit to this competition ever again.
The terms and conditions grant the organiser the right to use your work beyond that needed to promote the competition or appeal. If the organisation wishes to use your work for any other purpose they should negotiate with you independently of the competition. You should have the right to negotiate an appropriate fee for the specific use they want to make of your work and to set a time limit on such use. You should also have the right to refuse use of your work. For further information on fees and licensing refer to the Introduction to Rights and Licensing.

For further guidance please read the Bill of Rights for Artists.

We have written to this organisation, submitted a link to this report and urged them to adjust the competition rules as set out in the ABoR Principles document.

SPONSORS

#Random House Group Ltd

CONTACT

To write to the organiser and urge them to adopt the principles set out in the Artists' Bill of Rights use this this email address This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

If time is at a premium for you we have prepared a complaint email which you can copy and send to the organiser.

The Artists' Bill of Rights campaign depends on your active support, your help will make a difference.

Updated on 17/12/2011

Failing the Bill of Rights

The Bill of Rights Standards for Creative Competitions

Competitions which meet all the standards set out in the Bill of Rights For Artists do not do any of the following -

claim copyright
claim exclusive use
seek waiving of moral rights
fail to give a credit for all free usage
add, alter, or remove metadata from submissions
seek usage rights other than for promoting the contest and no other purpose. Note that a book, posters, cards, or a calendar are seen as legitimate ways of promoting the contest and defraying costs
seek free usage rights in excess of 5 years
use the submissions commercially without the entrant's agreement, and such commercial usage is to be subject to a freely negotiated license independently of the competition.
make it a condition of winning that an entrant must sign a commercial usage agreement
fail to publish all documents on the competition website that an entrant may have to sign
fail to name the judges for this or last year's competition
fail to explicitly state all the organisations who will acquire rights to the submissions
set a closing date more than 18 months after the contest launch date
fail to make clear statements of rights claimed and how submissions are used.

We have written an Organisers Guide to the Bill of Rights to help organisers draft terms and conditions that respect the rights of entrants and at the same time provide legal protection for the organiser.

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The above text may be reproduced providing a link is given to the Bill of Rights For Artists.

Any text reproduced in italics in this report has been extracted from a competition or appeal website for the purposes of review.

Organisations who would like to be promoted as a Bill of Rights Supporter and have their competitions promoted on the Rights On List can use this contact form. We look forward to hearing from you.