Author Topic: Anyone have images included in MS Office through Fotolia? (Read 5945 times)

lisafx · « **on:** January 05, 2010, 19:40 »

I had a few images selected by Microsoft to include in MS Office 2007 a couple of years back. I want to know how long those images were committed for and how to get them removed.

I seem to recall it was 18 months or two years because I have never agreed to any hold longer than that.

Can't find any mention of that tie-in on Fotolia's sites or among the license terms.

Anybody with images included in Office that remembers the exact terms?

So far no answer from Fotolia support.

gostwyck · « **Reply #1 on:** January 06, 2010, 15:33 »

I can't find anything either. It seems to me that we have the right to remove our work any time we choose to under Item 9 of the ToS;

9. Term and Termination and Removal of Work.
This Agreement shall continue in perpetuity unless terminated in accordance with this Section 9. Each of Fotolia or the Uploading Member may at any time terminate this Agreement with respect to any Work by removing the Work from the www.fotolia.com website. In the event removal is by Fotolia, Fotolia shall notify the Uploading Member of such removal. Fotolia shall also have the right, in its sole discretion, to deny the uploading of any Work to the Fotolia.com website. Fotolia reserves the right to remove any Work and/or terminate the account of the Uploading Member in its sole discretion without prior notice.

lisafx · « **Reply #2 on:** January 06, 2010, 19:06 »

Got a reply back from FOT support saying they can't remove images from MS Office. Apparently I have to contact Microsoft Support to do that.k

There is no specific support number or address dealing with that on the microsoft site so I wrote to the general Support e-mail. Let's see how long this takes to get sorted out....

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #3 on:** January 06, 2010, 20:16 »

Quote from: lisafx on January 06, 2010, 19:06

Got a reply back from FOT support saying they can't remove images from MS Office. Apparently I have to contact Microsoft Support to do that.k

There is no specific support number or address dealing with that on the microsoft site so I wrote to the general Support e-mail. Let's see how long this takes to get sorted out....

Lisa, I'm sure they're right that they can't actually remove the files, but surely as the agent who set the whole thing up (and with whom your agreement was) you'd think that at a bare minimum they would supply you with the name and email/phone of the person to contact. I think it should be FT's job to contact Microsoft for you to get the removal to occur, not yours, but that's hoping for rather a lot given FT support's track record (at least with me; perhaps they've been just ducky for everyone else

I know a number of people who work at Microsoft (all in development; no one who could help with this) and it's a very large organization that can be quite tricky to navigate. I strongly suggest that you push back on FT to get you a name and number or you could be waiting months to get something to happen. If FT wanted to cancel the whole deal, they have to have a name they'd call to get that to happen. They need to share...

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #4 on:** January 06, 2010, 21:10 »

I'd like my iStock images out of there as well, but it's part of the "promotional opportunities" checkbox

.

Jonathan Ross · « **Reply #5 on:** January 07, 2010, 00:26 »

Hi Lisa,

That is Bollocks, excuse my English. The ink is all there in B & W. You make them remove your images. Send them a letter from an attorney with the proper language referred to and recognized in the contract and show they are required to follow their agreement or be in breach of contract. Just like jsnover said and the contract that gostwyck posted. I would also send a copy to the legal department at Microsoft. They will not be happy having to deal with a reply. Do you have a friend that is a contract attorney that will review the contract and draft a letter for you?

Best,
Jonathan

robynmac · « **Reply #6 on:** January 20, 2010, 19:07 »

Hi Lisa,

I can't answer your specific question about the duration you committed your images to be on Microsoft going back a while, but have some general comments: Some months ago I received an invite from FT to be part of their "crank your rank" program of making available some small images for free on Microsoft, in exchange for a one-off increase in rank. (I'm currently gold, so a "crank" to emerald looked appealing!) I've just re-read the offer that was made, and nowhere did it specify how long the commitment was for. I didn't even think to ask about that (silly me).

I accepted the offer, images were selected, and I was told that "within three weeks" my rank would be cranked. That was four months ago. Still waiting...

When I queried FT, I got no response. I can't see any of my selected images on Microsoft, fortunately.

Now I'm not far off going emerald without a "crank", so there's no longer any tangible benefit of being part of this program (assuming it's still in existence).

It certainly seems logical that FT should contact Microsoft rather than you! FT has all the relevant details of the images they have provided to Microsoft, and the people they deal with. Their response sounds to me like classic buck-passing.

cybernesco · « **Reply #7 on:** January 20, 2010, 20:39 »

Quote from: robynmac on January 20, 2010, 19:07

Hi Lisa,

Some months ago I received an invite from FT to be part of their "crank your rank" program of making available some small images for free on Microsoft, in exchange for a one-off increase in rank.

Me too, a few months ago I did receive a similar email from Chad inviting me in this "crank your rank" program. I responded with a few questions regarding the usage of those images if I agreed. Such as how long and where those images would be used by Microsoft? I never got a reply. I am glad now that I never participated, however, this seems to be totally unfair for the ones that did. Denis

warren0909 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 21, 2010, 13:37 »

Yeah,

I got the same email but didnt like the look of it, with me being an active member of the forums I can see that some people did "crank your rank" , as they moved from one rank to another without the said number of sales.
Must admit Im glad I didnt do it now !!

Warren

lisafx · « **Reply #9 on:** January 21, 2010, 15:18 »

Thanks for all the great advice guys.

I donated these images in the beginning of the program, so I didn't even get my rank "cranked". Although I certainly feel I got "cranked" in a less positive meaning of the word

I have been faxing the MS legal team repeatedly for over a week, as instructed, and have not gotten the courtesy of a single reply. I will try going through Fotolia again, but I am not sure how helpful they will be considering this would make it easier for me to fly the coop.

As for hiring an attorney to write a letter, I will certainly consider it as a last resort, but the last time I hired an attorney "friend" (note the quotes) it ended up costing me $1100 in hourly fees just for the back and forth between him and the other party.

perkmeup · « **Reply #10 on:** May 02, 2010, 09:30 »

Here is the message that I had originally received about this.....it says one year.....so I don't know why after over two years they are still up. Seems like it should be Fotolia that contacts Microsoft and removes them....since it was there contract.

I hope you are well. Listen I wanted to give you an opportunity to participate in a new partnership we have with Microsoft. You may be familiar with Microsoft Office products and the clip art that they offer online at this link http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx. The clipart website receives over 200 million visitors each month and supports 52 different languages. Through this new deal, Microsoft has invited Fotolia and some of our photographers to provide small images to their clipart website.

As you can imagine Fotolia is very excited about this opportunity and we would like you to participate.

However, here is the catch; the images displayed on the clipart website will be available to their users for free. Microsoft is looking for images that are 5x7 inches at 150 dpi, our small license. Of course, if a user needs a larger image Microsoft will direct them to Fotolia to buy the larger size image.

We believe the upside to this opportunity is huge. It could be great exposure for you, your portfolio, and most importantly increase your monthly income.

Nevertheless, if a photographer participates, they must agree to keep the images online for at least 1 year, for this is the duration of our contract with Microsoft.

If you would like to contribute to this relationship, please let me know as soon as possible. We will need to start selecting 5-10 images from your portfolio that both you and Microsoft approve.

Can I count on your support?

I too would like to see my images off of Microsoft...they have plenty of money and if they want to use my photos...they should pay for them.