Renewed controversy surrounds Eastman Kodak subsidiary KodakIt, a service launched in 2017 as a way to provide businesses with on-demand access to photographers around the globe. The service was criticized in its early days for offering very low payments, but a new report from PDN highlights another problem: it requires photographers to completely surrender their copyrights.
A report from PDN digs into KodakIt's 'Photographer Terms and Conditions,' noting that it requires its photographers to 'perpetually and irrevocably' hand over their copyright to the client who purchased the work — in fact, it specifies 'the entire copyright' and all rights associated with it.
Photographers are required to get permission from KodakIt and the client before using any images — including outtakes — for personal promotion. As well, the 'Photographer Terms and Conditions' requires KodakIt's photographers to either destroy or surrender to the client any outtakes from the project.
KodakIt's restrictions continue from there, also including a 'Moral Rights Waiver' as part of its terms and conditions. Under this, the service's photographers are required to waive all 'moral rights' to the work, which includes claiming they shot the images and in any way interfering with 'the modification or destruction of a work. '
A full copy of the Photographer Terms and Conditions, which was valid as of July 1, 2018, can be found here [PDF].
. dpreview.com2019-2-27 19:05