Snapfish - FAIL.

I was looking at having some promotional printing done, and as is the norm in these 'grave financial times', have been mindful of my budget.
So, out of curiosity more than anything else, I found myself at www.snapfish.com.au - an online printing service, powered by HP (I think).
And other than the website being gratingly annoying (just tell me how much it will cost, and stop trying to get me to register/log in!), I found myself reading the Terms and Conditions. When you join or register to become a member for sites such as these, do you read them? Honestly?

Anyway - as the legalese sent my eyes into spasms of blurriness (it's just sooooooo boring) I came across two interesting items, before I shut down the Snapfish site in a fit of rather pleasing indignation. Snapfish - you'rrrrrrre oooouuuutttta here!
In my defence, there could well be more then these two point that might, in the words of Mr P. Griffith, grind your gears, but theses were the two that jumped out at me.

1. Snapfish products are to be used for personal use only, and may not be used for commercial purposes.

Really? You don't want my money? I mean if, hypothetically, I was a, ummmm, wedding photographer, I might use Snapfish to build a hard cover book and offer it as a service to couples getting married. So - if each book costs say AUS$44.95, and I shoot 20 weddings a year, then Snapfish gets AUS$899. Now, working on the principles of Arithmetic 101, if there are 100 photographers in town (go on - check the Yellow Pages and tell me how many are in your town), then that's almost nine grand in Snapfish's coffers. But according to the T&Cs of Snapfish, they're OK. They're not really interested in making money, apparently. They're obviously doing it 'for the love'. Ahem.

Why have a business plan that limits your possible revenue stream? I can understand why they'd turn down work of it was illegal or immoral, but other than that... They must have gooooooood drugs available in the Snapfish marketing aquarium.

2. Copyright statement.

This is a quote from the T&Cs from the Snapfish site:

"When you use the Service, you become a participant in an online community of people who enjoy photography. In order for Snapfish to make your photos available to you and your invitees, as well as to use images to offer you a special variety of online services, Snapfish needs the rights to make use of all Content on the Service, in accordance with and subject to these Terms. Accordingly, as a condition to your Membership, you hereby grant Snapfish a perpetual, universal, non-exclusive, royalty-free right to copy, display, modify, transmit, make derivative works of and distribute your Content, solely for the purpose of providing the Service. As a condition to Membership, you represent and warrant to Snapfish that you either own your Content or have written permission from the copyright owner to make such Content available to the Service.

The Service is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws and by other applicable laws. You may not Process any Content owned by someone else without the written consent of the owner of such Content. You are solely responsible for any copyright violations that you may incur as a result of your activities on the Service.

If you believe that your work or the work of another has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, Snapfish has a process in place to respond to your concerns."

Let's look at that once more. "You hereby grant Snapfish a perpetual, universal, non-exclusive, royalty-free right to copy, display, modify, transmit, make derivative works of and distribute your Content." Perpetual: For ever. Universal: everywhere - all mediums - print, web, hardware, magazines, posters, cups, books. Non-exclusive: Does that mean anyone can use it? Royalty-free: If money gets made from it, you're left standing out in the cold, with an empty wallet (or purse), looking in at the Snapfish team cuddled up around a warm fire, eating heartily, drinking copiously and laughing merrily. At you. Copy, display, modify, transmit, make derivative works: They can copy it as many times as they like, show it to whom they like, change it however they like and reproduce it however they like. Oh, did I mention that you've given them permission? If someone sees the image on a website like Flickr, they can contact you and you can negotiate payment for the licensing of the image. Say it's $100. By using Snapfish, Snapfish can decide that they want to use the image and guess what? Think you're going to see any of that money? Guess again.

Why would you do that? OK, maybe, the Average Joe (or Joanne) Photographer may not be to interested in seeing revenue being generated from the fruits of their labours, but even as a a semi-professional photographer - heck, even if you take a modicum of pride in your photography, why would you give the rights completely to someone else? Want a photo book printed? Go and check out a photo lab. Ditto for photos - the availability of photo booths nowadays allows you drop in with your memory device, send the print order through, do some shopping, grab a coffee and pick them up later - all the time retaining ownership of the image.

Copyright retention of creative works, by the artist (yes, in this case that's you, the photographer) is exceptionally important. It's how you can survive, pay bills, buy food and put most importantly, buy new camera gear. Retain the copyright - and retain that $100.