Twitter photo service TwitPic signed a controversial deal today that allows it to license pictures published with its service to WENN, a news agency with interests in celebrity photos.
The deal arose because mainstream media had been combing through TwitPic photos–especially those taken of celebrities–and publishing them to their for-profit news sites without permission from the photographer or TwitPic.
The agreement between WENN and TwitPic ensures that the Twitter photo-sharing service gets royalties for licensing the photos, which will be paid exclusively by WENN. It does not, however, provide any compensation for the Twitter users who actually took the photograph.
Here’s what it said regarding the terms of service (ToS) on the TwitPic blog:
“To clarify our ToS regarding ownership, you the user retain all copyrights to your photos and videos, it’s your content. Our terms state by uploading content to Twitpic you allow us to distribute that content on twitpic.com and our affiliated partners. This is standard among most user-generated content sites (including Twitter). If you delete a photo or video from Twitpic, that content is no longer viewable.”
Here’s the terms of service clause:
“You retain all ownership rights to Content uploaded to Twitpic. However, by submitting Content to Twitpic, you hereby grant Twitpic a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Content in connection with the Service and Twitpic’s (and its successors’ and affiliates’) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels.”
For celebrities the deal means that, whenever they post a photo to TwitPic, their picture cannot be published by an agency or media outlet without paying the appropriate licensing fees through WENN.
