About This Organisation
International Airlines Group t/a British Airways
About this Organisation
The International Airlines Group was formed by a merger of British Airways and Iberia on 21 January 2011.
About this Report
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.
We Are Executive Club appeal
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
This 'competition' is only open to members of the British Airways Executive Club. The members are invited to submit photos of themselves. Although handing out 1000 'avios' (formerly known as 'air miles') to the owners of each of the first 1000 photos received this is not really a competition, it is just an appeal for images that British Airways can use in any future advertising. They also grant themsleves the right to edit them as they wish.
It could be viewed as just another rights grab except for the fact that people who submit images are to "waive any right to publicity or privacy in the Photo (whether arising under Article 8 Human Rights Act or otherwise)".
British Airways don't specify which human right act they are referring to (there are several, including those published by the UN and the EU) but we assume that British Airways mean Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which says;
EU CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, ARTICLE 8
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Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
- There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
We are of the view that it is not possible in any country which has signed up to the EU Convention on Human Rights for any organisation, public or private, to ask that country's citizens to waive any of their human rights. Requiring such a waiver, apart from being astonishing, undermines the entire purpose of having a human rights act, nor are waivers explicitly permitted by any of the articles in the act.
We would like to know from any lawyers reading this whether such a waiver could actually be enforced by British Airways in a court of law.
An extract from the terms and conditions published by British Airways (now only available in search engine cache) for this appeal for portrait photos is shown below;
3. I understand and accept that by uploading a photograph of myself (the Photo) to www.weareexecutiveclub.com, British Airways Plc, and any member of the BA Group (collectively “BA”) may use the Photo throughout the world for the purpose of the “We Are Executive Club” promotion (the Promotion) and any and all future BA Executive Club promotion, in any and all media, including, without limitation, BA’s printed publications, promotional materials or on ba.com in its original format or edited or altered in any way which the BA deems appropriate. I further consent to BA storing or transferring copies of the Photo to a destination outside the EEA, for the purpose of the Promotion.
4. I understand that copyright in all images submitted in this promotion remains with the respective copyright holder. By uploading the Photo, I confirm that I am the exclusive owner of all rights, including but not limited to all intellectual property rights in and to the Photo, or that I have express written permission to use the Photo from the owner(s) of the rights in and to the Photo. In addition, I confirm that BA and third parties reasonably involved in the Promotion have a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sub-licensable right to exercise the copyright, publicity, and any other rights in and to the Photo, including but not limited to, featuring any or all of the submitted images in any of their publications, their websites and/or in any promotional material connected to this Promotion. Further, BA and such third parties involved in the Promotion, may modify, adapt, translate, create derivative works from, and distribute the Photo, or incorporate the Photo into any form, medium or technology, including but not limited to, on any websites, social media networks, or internet, mobile device or television programming for future marketing, promotional or advertising purposes. Any new intellectual property created by BA during this promotion remains the property of BA.
5. I acknowledge that I (and not BA) am solely liable for any damage resulting from infringement of copyrights, proprietary rights or any other intellectual property rights, or any other harm or damage arising from my submission and BA’s display of any or all parts of the Photo. I hereby hold BA harmless from and against any third party claim arising from use of the Photo.
6. I further understand, and thereby authorise, that my Photo may be accessed, viewed, stored or reproduced by BA and viewed by any of BA’s members or other visitors to BA’s web site. By submitting the Photo I waive any right to publicity or privacy in the Photo (whether arising under Article 8 Human Rights Act or otherwise) and waive any right to inspect or approve use of the Photo or to be compensated for any such use.
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.
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You must waive your human right to privacy in the photo as set out in Article 8 of the Human Rights Act or otherwise. We are of the view, until shown otherwise, that this is legally invalid.
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The terms and conditions require you to waive your moral rights in that you will not be permitted to approve any derivatives made from your photograph or how it is used. This means you will not be able to object even if it was altered in a manner you would consider derogatory, or if it is used to promote something you find objectionable. You have also lost your right to be credited as the author of your work.
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The terms and conditions are granting the organiser unlimited use of your work for ever and no compensation for such use will ever be paid. 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 employ competition rules as set out in the ABoR Principles document.
SPONSORS
None listed
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;
They can also be contacted via Facebook and Twitter.
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 06/02/2012
About the Artists' Bill of Rights
The Artists' Bill of Rights Principles 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 3 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.
© Bill of Rights Supporters Group
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.
