Online lab expects usage rights of uploaded photo's

[MpixPro]

Thanks for being so quick to understand, guys. The Miller's TOS refers ONLY to web hosting services.

[digitaldog]

Thanks for being so quick to understand, guys. The Miller's TOS refers ONLY to web hosting services.

So if I use Millers as a web host, I relinquish my copyright? I don't understand why.

[MpixPro]

You do not relinquish your copyright at any time. The Miller's TOS for Web Hosting only describes web hosting in legal terminology. We are in the process of re-writing this to make it more plainly worded.

[digitaldog]

You do not relinquish your copyright at any time. The Miller's TOS for Web Hosting only describes web hosting in legal terminology. We are in the process of re-writing this to make it more plainly worded.

Are you referring to this page (http://www.millerslab.com/files/policy/termsofuse.htm)?:

You are solely responsible for all materials, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, that you upload, post, e-mail, transmit, or otherwise make available on our Site ("Your Content"). You certify that you own all intellectual property rights in Your Content. You hereby grant Miller's, our affiliates, and our partners a worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free, nonexclusive, sublicensable license to use, reproduce, create derivative works of, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, transfer, transmit, distribute, and publish Your Content and subsequent versions of Your Content for the purposes of (i) displaying Your Content on our Site, (ii) distributing Your Content, either electronically or via other media, to users seeking to download or otherwise acquire it, and/or (iii) storing Your Content in a remote database accessible by end users, for a charge. This license shall apply to the distribution and the storage of Your Content in any form, medium, or technology now known or later developed.

[feppe]

The terms and conditions mentioned were copied from our Miller's Professional Imaging website and were written for our web hosting application only. These terms should not have been included on the Mpix.com or MpixPro.com websites and have been removed.

This is not the first time a company doesn't understand or even read their own legalese they require their customers to digitally sign. It happened to Google and Facebook as well.

*sigh*

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

This is not the first time a company doesn't understand or even read their own legalese they require their customers to digitally sign. It happened to Google and Facebook as well.

*sigh*

That's how lawyers get rich: writing stuff that even their clients can't understand.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I just went to the Miller's Professional Imaging website to see what they have to say. Here is paragraph 3 from their Terms of service:

License and Ownership of Work Product.  Miller's shall not gain any ownership interest in the Photographer's images, except that the Photographer grants Miller's a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license, with the right to reproduce, distribute, transmit, and publicly display any materials and other information that Photographer submits to the Site (the "Submitted Materials") for the purposes of (i) display in the Photographer's albums or galleries on the Site and (ii) production of personalized photo finished products or reprints ordered by Photographer and Photographer's customers, members, or their guests. Miller's disclaims ownership of Submitted Materials.  Millers' license to such images will terminate when Photographer removes the images from Photographer's album or gallery.

This is pretty much the opposite of what Mpix was claiming. I wonder where they got their version from?   

I also glommed the Mpix site, and if the stuff Andrew quoted was there once, I certainly can't find it now.

[digitaldog]

I also glommed the Mpix site, and if the stuff Andrew quoted was there once, I certainly can't find it now.

It should be gone as of about 11am mountain time (more or less).

[ashley]

I get sick of these rights grabs everywhere we look nowadays and it's an issue for professionals and amateurs alike. Obviously I wouldn't touch a lab like that with a 9 foot barge pole but I really feel it's time for the various authorities such as the US legislature and the European Union to make conditions like these illegal. I know that Pro-Imaging are fighting a campaign against such practices in competitions but I can't help but feeling that some of the bigger national organisations should also be doing more. We always think that politicians don't care about photographers and perhaps we are right in general, however we also have votes and it's quite clear here that many large companies are involved in some pretty sharp practices.