Just a minor irritant…

I came across this interesting bit of small print when I was checking out a new blogging platform being launched (www.kontain.com) as the easiest way to blog ever… just upload your photos, images, videos and – instantly – beautiful web presentation – FREE. Cool, I’m ready to jump on in, but let’s just look at the small print…

Small catch in the small print: everything you upload is now and forever owned by this company – all your creative rights – forever – gone. To me, this is a sickening policy and the wrong way to launch a business. Here’s the small print (the highlighting is mine): you can find the complete “terms of use” here: http://www.kontain.com/#legal/terms

In connection with User Content that you make available on the Kontain Service, you expressly represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, authority, consents, and permissions to use and authorize Kontain to use all patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights in and to any and all User Content to enable inclusion and use of the User Content as part of the Kontain Service under these Terms of Use.  By submitting, posting, uploading, emailing or otherwise providing User Content to Kontain, you hereby grant (or warrant that the owner of such rights has expressly granted) Kontain a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable and transferable license to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, publish, perform and transmit the User Content in connection with the Kontain Service, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Kontain Service (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You warrant that all moral rights to the User Content you submit have been waived. You also hereby grant each user of the Kontain Service a non-exclusive license to access your User Content through the Kontain Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such User Content as permitted through the functionality of the Kontain Service and under these Terms of Use.

Maybe I’m naive, and this kind of thing goes on all the time – who knows who might own some of my work?!? But now it has my attention, and I thought I’d pass this along so you might think twice about what you sign-up for online…