The Irish Times is currently publishing a series of short stories on Ireland’s social, political and economic crash under the banner of Legends of the Fall.
As part of this project, they are running a short story competition. Readers may submit their own tales reflecting on the terrible effects of unbridled acquisitiveness and greed on society.
Section 19 of the Terms and Conditions of the competition suggests that it may have a self-referential aspect not otherwise publicised. Win or lose, entrants will have given away the Intellectual Property in their stories.
By entering this competition, you are agreeing that any submissions made become the property The Irish Times Ltd
Aneurin Bevan, the UK Labour Minister who established the NHS would say to his audiences
This is my truth, tell me yours.
It seems the Irish Times, not content with hearing its readers’ truths, wants to own them too.
UPDATE:
.@irishstu @Tupp_Ed @faduda Those terms have been fixed @IrishTimes asserts no copyright over any entries to comp http://t.co/XRlhpP3Nqn
— David Cochrane (@davidcochrane) July 29, 2013
It’s funny, I read the updated terms and conditions and thought the part “and on any other platforms yet to be envisaged” was a cute piece of drafting and that the section represented a nice balance between the right of the Irish Times to use the material and the right of the author to retain control.
I had no idea that there had been outside influence leading the Times to this progressive wording.
Well done.