Contest and Competitions: Are You Giving Your Ideas Away?

Artists, designers, and content creators should be aware of contests/competitions that you tend to see on social media websites. The lure of a big payday or win might be tempting but it pays to read the fine print. In some cases, these contests/competitions are created as a way to data-mine thousands of new ideas for free with no compensation for the entrants.

Some things to look out for

Terms and conditions; do you keep the rights to your work or does it become the property of the contest creators? Is there an entry fee? Win or lose, will they be using your design or likeness for marketing purposes?

You want to make sure you keep all rights to your work. It might be a good idea to copyright your work if possible before submission. The entry fee is the way they fund/market the contest. You may be paying someone to take your idea if you are not a winner and using your design or content as free marketing.

 

What happens to all the submissions that don’t win?

 

I found myself in a situation in an A&R song contest. My work was copyrighted, but a month after the contest I heard a piece of music on the radio that sounded very similar to my submission. I contacted an entertainment lawyer and was told I had to provide a direct paper trail of how my work wound up to the artist.

 

In a lot of instances, these companies will sell the data they have gathered in these contests to a third party breaking your paper trail. The third party now has access to hundreds, maybe thousands of new ideas depending on the number of submissions.

 

Not all contests are bad. Contest or competitions through state or local educational institutions can be legitimate. Educational entities must follow state/federal guidelines including FERPA. There are usually no entry fees and you keep rights to your work.

 

 

Intellectual Property and Work-For-Hire

If you are hired by an entertainment company, any contract you sign will probably have an intellectual property clause or some kind of work-for-hire statement buried in the fine print. This states that any ideas you create while hired for the company can become the property of said company. Think Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They fought Marvel for decades to get a cut from the Marvel characters they created which were considered work-for hire.

 

Copyright any important work you have before signing the contract. Be careful of any personal work you create while working for the company even at home. Do not show this work to anyone. When your contract is over wait the appropriate amount of time (roughly 6 months) before filing any new copyrights.

 

As an artist, designer, or content creator you must be aware of what some corporate entities are capable of and be careful.



If you find these articles helpful subscribe and share with friends and family.