I’ve been a card carrying member of the Sierra Club since I was in college and I generally am a strong supporter of the causes they promote. I’ve always appreciated the Club’s use of photography to promote environmental and wilderness protection issues. I recently received an email inviting me to submit photographs for a contest they are sponsoring, and I thought I’d submit a few of my photographs.

As I generally do these days, I decided to read the contest rules – which include the following:

All entants agree that entry in the contest and/or acceptance of the grand-prize package constitutes permission for Sierra Club, its affiliates, subsidiaries, successors assigns, advertising and promotional agencies, to use entant’s entry materials, including the photograph(s) entered in the Contest (the Photograph(s)), for editorial, advertising and publicity purposes without further compensation, with or without entrant’s name, and with or without modification, in any medium now known or hereafter created throughout the world to the extent permitted by applicable law. Each entrant and winner agrees and acknowledges that to the best of his or her knowledge, Sierra Club’s use of the Photograph(s) will not violate the rights of any other person or organization and Sierra Club will not incur liability for payment to any other person or organization. Each entrant and winner agrees to indemnify and release Sierra Club and its officers, directors, employees, agents and advertising and promotional agencies for and from any and all claims associated with the use of any submitted or winning Photograph, including without limitation any rights of publicity, right of privacy, defamation, trademark or copyright claims.

(Emphasis added for clarity)

Unbelievable! By merely entering a photograph in their contest (and, by the way, I don’t see anything to prohibit someone else from entering your photograph without your knowledge) you have just given the Sierra club and just about every entity they ever do business with or collaborate with in any way an unlimited blanket license to use your photograph for any purpose they see fit for all eternity in any medium (including those not invented yet – really) with no credit to you for your work and no payment for the use. Oh, but it gets worse. Despite giving away your rights to your intellectual property, the Sierra Club will let you retain all liability for the use of the photograph.

I’m trying to refrain from using the language that best describes these “terms” – so I’ll just say you would be a fool to enter this contest.

Remember that I’m a Sierra Club member who supports the goals of the group and the contest and a photographer who wanted to enter the contest. When I contacted the contest coordinator the response was basically “don’t annoy us.”

Afterthought: I suppose you could point to the typo in the first line of the material quoted above (see “entants”) and point out that the conditions don’t apply to you since you are an entrant rather than an entant. But you’d still be in big trouble if your photo won…

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

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