As the result of pressure exerted in forums across the Internet (including Tasmanian Times) Tourism Australia has relented on its exploitative copyright grab in its Nothing Like Australia photo competition.
In changes made to their “conservative” Terms and Conditions, it seems they are now happy to just accept a licence to use submitted pictures rather than their previous stance of entrants having to surrender all rights. This email arrived in my inbox this morning. Do I detect the sound of grinding teeth?:
G’Day Rob,
We wanted to let you know that we’ve made a couple of changes to the terms and conditions of this competition. But don’t worry! We’ve actually made them better. A few other entrants have asked whether or not the terms and conditions were a bit conservative and would prevent you from being able to share, sell or reproduce your photos that you had uploaded to our site.
We thought that was a fair question, so we had another look at the terms and conditions and we’ve made a couple of changes. Those changes mean that when you entered this competition, and agreed to the terms and conditions, you have now only granted us a license to use your photo and words to promote Australia as a holiday destination both here and overseas. But you still retain your own rights over your image and words.
Thanks so much for getting involved in this great campaign to promote our country. We really appreciate it.
Kind regards,
The Tourism Australia Team
Competition:www.nothinglikeaustralia.com | Consumer:www.australia.com
Earlier on Tasmanian Times HERE: Tourism Australia in photo copyright rights grab
