Exclusivity restrictions ?

It seems we are many to have questions about the exclusivity restrictions, lets talk about it here...



(Edited on 2005-01-04 04:53:38 by absolutly_frenchy)

I really want to sign exclusive contract but ...

I think we should stay able to give away our own files in our own portfolio as long as they are not also available on istock...
Portfolio are made to convince companies to hire us and -at least, in countries like France- it would not be possible to ask any employer to buy stock images at istock in order to check our abilities in photography or illustration... the best way is to provide a few example of our abilities -including photography and illustration- for free in our personnal online portfolio...




(Edited on 2005-01-04 04:44:01 by absolutly_frenchy)

and there's the whole thing about iStock claiming exclusivity to formats we cannot and possibly do not want to sell on iStock (video, code, etc)

My concern is about what future "Content" will be included in the exclusivity.

Photos are fine, illustrations, fine. But code? No dice.

Fanelie has a good point. The way it is worded now, if I wanted to send a portfolio CD of my photos to someone as an sample of my work, it doesn't soudn like I would be able to do it without violating the agreement.

I'm taking advantage of the 20 day grace period to read it over the contracts several times, but on first glance it appears the exclusivity claim is only directed at pics/illos/flash/etc uploaded to iStock. In that the photog cannot offer the same pic/illo/swf/etc somewhere else at the same before, during or after uploading. If that is the particular sense of the agreement, then it remains in the pervue of the photog to conduct commissioned work, sell rights-managed pics, and other creative design services he owns elsewhere without iStock being involved in anyway.

I may be misintrepreting the whole thing though, so I'll be watching with interest. If it is more than that, perhaps what iStock is offering is something along the lines of a (literary) agent agreement where the agent agrees to represent the artist rather than a specific work.

I will bring here my doubts on the exclusivity system and will remove them from the new features thread, I'll mail support but I will also post them here in case these are helpful for somebody.

I have disabled all my photos available at any other small stock selling site, that was clear

1) Being a small design firm owner, I was planning to upload a portfolio with 4-5 free design based wallpapers (self-creations), can't I offer them if I am istock exclusive?

2) I understand that being istock exclusive, I can still sell my design skills/flash production services online, as any project resulted from these is a "hire" project. Am I right?

3) Can I use my own photographs on my own design projects if exclusive?

4) Client hires me to create a series of photos for a calendar/virtual postcard he will be publishing & selling online. Can I still be hired for that type of work while those photos are not uploaded to istock and while being hired by the client?

Thank you again,

Debbie

Good mention Ispain, I did contact support too but as you mentionned doubts can be shared in a thread in order to help other people that might wonder the same thing and also offer the possibility to discuss various point of view, that's why I created this thread, please note no offense is intended, I'm so happy with istock new features !

Huhh? 20 day grace period? I didn't realize we were on a time limit to sign up for this thing. Thats realy pushing it I think. where is this grace period stated? I though you could opt in or out of this at any time with the exception that if you cancel exclucivity you would have to wait 90 day to opt in again.

(Edited on 2005-01-04 05:14:50 by ronbloom)

there isnt one, sign up whenever you want

ok thanks thats what I thought.

I believe what is referred to is that if you do not agree to the agreements at this time, you will be reminded in 20 days. I am sure you can sign up, or not, anytime.

Justelaine I think you are getting confused between "iStockphoto's exclusivity program" and "non exclusive agreement", it seemed to me that it was the non exclusive agreement that had to approved in 20 days not the exclusive program...I think we have all the time we want in order to a apply as exclusive.
But I admit I might have missed something...

[edit] DAMN IT... BEATEN... I WAS TOO LATE... [/edit]

(Edited on 2005-01-04 05:18:16 by absolutly_frenchy)

This, I am not sure about. So, I'll leave that to someone who know more.



The answer to all three of these questions is: Yes, you can.

Well andyroo just gave an official statment on that I see an admin badge there.

AF--yes, you're right. it was the 2nd agreement and it was preambled with this disclaimer (We ask that you agree to the new Artist's Supply Agreement. If you chose to disagree, you will have 30 days to reconsider, or your status as a photographer and your images will be removed from the site. If you chose not to answer now, you will be reminded again in 20 days. )

The way I understand it, it states you can still have a "personal portfolio site" which to me means you can post designs and wallpaper using your images, you just can not give away images to be used for stock purposes.

Rasmus, thank you very much for the fast response.

I havent actually been able to read the agreement, still standard canister here, but from what i have read here, im thinking that code snippits are refering to flash actionscript. That is the only real code that somehow affects your portfolio.

When you get to the actual agreement, you'll see that it is not specific at all. It could be read that way certainly, but it could also be read that you are agreeing to let iStock be your exclusive agent for all of your intellectual property of any type in any media (the bit about "other material produced by Supplier" tacked on to the end of the list when they define 'Exclusive Content').