Round robin email and contract.

[Allan Bell]

 

I received a round robin email from Alamy this afternoon regarding exclusivity.

 

Copied below.  Under that are the contract paras that apply.

 

 

Round robin email.

 

We also wanted to take this opportunity to remind you of the following when it comes to whether you should mark images as 'exclusive' or 'non-exclusive' in your contributor account:

 

• Exclusive means that images are only available through Alamy (or the contributor's own website) and are not available via any third party licensing, sales or distribution channels (where not supplied through Alamy).
• In addition, content cannot be marked as 'Exclusive to Alamy' if it is an exact preproduction (in all or part) of a work of art; is not protected by copyright; is in the public domain or for which copyright ownership is unknown. 

 

 

Contract paras below.

 

2.7.   Subject to the terms of this Contract, you may supply the Content to Alamy on an Exclusive basis. You warrant and represent that Content marked by you as “Exclusive to Alamy” on the System will be Exclusive to Alamy.

 

2.8.   You acknowledge and agree that Content that is: (i) an exact reproduction (in all or part) of a work of art; (ii) Content that is not protected by copyright; or (iii) Content that is in the public domain or for which copyright ownership is unknown, can never be Exclusive and must never be marked as “Exclusive to Alamy”.

 

My question is this.

 

I am sure that when this contract was being presented, discussed and changed, there was mention that we were allowed to put our images on POD sites without contravening the “Exclusive “ status with Alamy.

 

This seems to have disappeared from the above contract or was omitted when Alamy finally printed the contract.

 

Am I right or wrong in my thinking?

 

Allan

 

 

[geogphotos]

From what I remember POD sites are acceptable as long as they are not offering yoru images as digital downloads/licences.

[NYCat]

What geophotos said.

 

Paulette

[Nick Hatton]

I checked with them yesterday that it was fine to supply a calendar publisher direct, there answer was yes fine but let them know so they can inform the infringements team.  

[Allan Bell]

12 hours ago, Nick Hatton said:

I checked with them yesterday that it was fine to supply a calendar publisher direct, there answer was yes fine but let them know so they can inform the infringements team.  

 

So if we are supplying images to POD sites we are now asked to let infringements team know which images. Too much hassle, think I will stay with being none exclusive.

 

Allan

 

[geogphotos]

44 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

So if we are supplying images to POD sites we are now asked to let infringements team know which images. Too much hassle, think I will stay with being none exclusive.

 

Allan

 

 

Hi Alan,

 

My understanding is that you do not need to inform Alamy of images on a POD site as long as they are only being offered for prints and products (not being offered for digital downloads/stock licensing).

 

[Gorilla Dave]

Are we allowed to recommend POD sites here - if so - any recommendations ?

[meanderingemu]

14 hours ago, Nick Hatton said:

I checked with them yesterday that it was fine to supply a calendar publisher direct, there answer was yes fine but let them know so they can inform the infringements team.  

 

Did we ever get the direct contact for the Infringement team? I kind of remember a post that it would be upcoming, but don't remember ever getting the notice. 

[Ognyan Yosifov]

42 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

Did we ever get the direct contact for the Infringement team? I kind of remember a post that it would be upcoming, but don't remember ever getting the notice. 

Did you mean if you could contact them directly at infringements@alamy.com? Yes, you could!

[geogphotos]

1 hour ago, Ognyan Yosifov said:

Did you mean if you could contact them directly at infringements@alamy.com? Yes, you could!

 

 

There is also the online form to report infringements.

[meanderingemu]

35 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

There is also the online form to report infringements.

 

which now thankfully goes directly to the Infringement team so that the CR team can't damage infringement claims, which they did for one of mine.

 

 

1 hour ago, Ognyan Yosifov said:

Did you mean if you could contact them directly at infringements@alamy.com? Yes, you could!

 

Never saw the announcement, probably went to spam,  do you have a link

Edited November 20, 2022 by meanderingemu

[meanderingemu]

 

 

 

Here was the original post from Alamy, April 1st, that this would be coming

[Ognyan Yosifov]

36 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

which now thankfully goes directly to the Infringement team so that the CR team can't damage infringement claims, which they did for one of mine.

 

 

 

Never saw the announcement, probably went to spam,  do you have a link

I don't have a link, just the email address I got emails from about my requests on infringements.

[Ognyan Yosifov]

1 hour ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

There is also the online form to report infringements.

Yes, it's recommended to use the form first about unreported sales

[Allan Bell]

5 hours ago, Gorilla Dave said:

Are we allowed to recommend POD sites here - if so - any recommendations ?

 

Bit of a grey area as far as Alamy forums go.

 

Allan

 

[Gorilla Dave]

7 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Bit of a grey area as far as Alamy forums go.

 

Allan

 

 

Ok - many thanks - i'll have a look around !

GD

[meanderingemu]

1 hour ago, Ognyan Yosifov said:

I don't have a link, just the email address I got emails from about my requests on infringements.

 

 

same, but nothing about contacting them upfront directly.  The issue is the submission form restrict what can be sent as infringements, it's actually more restrictive than the "Exclusive Rules" 

 

 

"This image has never been for sale or display on any other website and it’s not in the public domain / copyright free."

 

 

So for cases that don't meet this requirement, and Alamy has pursued cases successfully (image with Alamy watermark in my case), we need to contact through other mode, and as i mentioned above i am reticent to contact CS due to bad experience, so this is why i wondered. 

[Allan Bell]

 

In view of the comments made from my original posted question I have now made all images on Alamy "Exclusive to Alamy".

 

There is no benefit other than they will chase "found" images that are not paid for.  Good luck to them with that as I have never found any of my images being used which were not licensed from Alamy.

 

If Alamy reads this post then yes I am issuing a challenge. They only have just over 6500 6300 images to chase.😃

 

Allan

Edited November 21, 2022 by Allan Bell

[meanderingemu]

23 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

 

In view of the comments made from my original posted question I have now made all images on Alamy "Exclusive to Alamy".

 

There is no benefit other than they will chase "found" images that are not paid for.  Good luck to them with that as I have never found any of my images being used which were not licensed from Alamy.

 

If Alamy reads this post then yes I am issuing a challenge. They only have just over 6500 images to chase.😃

 

Allan

 

 

Since Alamy wrote that the main issue is when they find images that were used they just send a note  for person to confirm that they have licence i have been quite wide with my interpretation of "exclusive" based on various comments from Alamy. If person actually stole from elsewhere in past, i have no issue with Alamy going after them .

 

 

Now i wish Alamy would also focus on ones they have extra information on.  Downloads and Actual Sales Usage terms.