Texas Motor Speedway Rights Grab, in exchange for access

[J Eddington]

I thought those of you shoot there might be interested. Carol Wright AKA Photo Attorney, recently blogged about this. I thought you might be interested.

Texas Motor Speedway Wants Copyrights Of Photographers | Photo Attorney

[BenE]

Amazing! If I read correctly, you may take photographs, but do not even have the right to sell them, unless the speedway people give you (the photographer) written permission.

Also, the photographer must assign the copyright over to them, and they can do whatever they wish with them.

I notice the financial terms is left blank. Perhaps they will even determine how much the photographer can charge.

I really cannot understand who might be wiling to do this.

[kenw]

Their property, their rules. And their loss as well.....

[J Eddington]

So often people are in a hurry and don't READ the terms, they just sign.

[kenw]

The underlying reality here is that even if you sign, the probability of them enforcing is small. They are required to have you sign JUST IN CASE a pic shows up later that they really, really would like to either use or more likely, not have been taken in the first place. (think: Jim Morrison "exposing" himself onstage) If that situation ever arises, they will use the signed contract in court to get the pic and show ownership. That's their trump card.

However, if the photog can show that the enforcement was inconsistent ("not everyone had to sign" would be a prime way to show inconsistency), their ability to enforce the contract is severely limited and in many cases non-existent.

IOW, to enforce it once, you must enforce it always. It is an extension of the Trademark laws, in particular where companies like Xerox were threatened with loss of trademark due to the fact that they had not enforced the trademark and had allowed the name Xerox to move into common vernacular, instead of the non-trademarked/generic word "xerography" or "photocopy" (et al). The FTC can and has done this in the past, "Formica" was also close to losing their trademark for the same reason. These cases can drag on for eons and cost major bucks, Xerox alone spent millions to retain the right to their own name!

The extension to copyright law is similar in that like a trademark if you want to enforce a copyright, you must be able to prove that you have applied your rules fairly and consistently and not just when it suits you to do so. In most cases, these folks could care less about your pics and what you do with them. But because somewhere sometime there might be one they really want to get back, they have to have everyone sign or else give up the right to get any pic back ever.