I’m pleased to announce there’s been a positive development in the Nick Jr sly “copyright appropriation” competition, as previously reported (Warning! Entering this competition will cost you your rights article, 14th December 2006).
Paul Rowlinson, one such competition entrant I’d reported in my update post of 6th January had – through Nick Jr’s alarming and unfair competition entry conditions – lost all copyright ownership of his short story, simply by entering.
Today he contacted me to let me know he has received a favourable reply from Nick Jr. Paul had contacted the network, querying the competition clauses that had – win or lose – effectively stripped him of all his rights in relation to his story, Sammy the Spanner.
“Surely this only applies to the winners and not ALL entrants?” he reasoned in his communiqué to Nick Jr. “It seems to me that if you haven’t thought my work appropriate for yourselves then I’m at liberty to use it elsewhere?”
Nick Jr agreed, relinquishing the rights and returning them to him – but not before querying him why. Paul had to explain he wanted to try and get the story published before the formal reversion came.
And – good news that it is aside – this is what bothers me. Why should Nick Jr query Paul’s reasons for wanting his copyright back? It should be self evident any writer whose work is rejected wishes it returned to them, rights intact, for them to try and push it elsewhere where it may be accepted. While favourable, this response doesn’t indicate any acceptance on Nick Jr’s side that their actions in the first place were wrong.
This is borne out by there being no indication elsewhere that Nick Jr’s relenting in Paul’s case is applicable to all losing entrants to the competition. Nick Jr’s Once Upon a Bedtime contest page remains unaltered; no announcement about the copyright issue has been made there nor within its forums. It appears Nick Jr is keeping officially schtum and reverting entrants’ copyright only on a case by case basis.
In the meantime I have heard from Richard Simpson, who sits on the Kids Committee of the Writers Guild of Great Britain. While he has nothing further to report about this matter, he assures me the WGGB are still looking into it. If Nick Jr haven’t received a knock on the door from them yet, they may well do presently.
Still, good news for Paul.
And if you’re a writer who submitted a story to the Nick Jr competition and wants to try to use it elsewhere, contact the network at letterbox@nickjr.co.uk, query the clauses, and ask for your copyright back.
It looks like if you don’t ask, you won’t get.
© 2007 Julian Boote All rights reserved.
