ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

G'day All,

I am responsible for a couple of poetry competitions. One of them has a section sponsored by a local business. This business wants to compile an anthology of all the entries to that section over past years and in the future. The anthology will not be for sale but handed out to clients of the business. I have been asked to hand over the poems.
I believe I do not have the right to do this. The business has been a major sponsor of the competition. If they drop out it will leave me having to hunt round for another sponsor.

Should I just give a list of the names of poems and the authors contact email or phone number and have them contact the author? Would inclusion of a poem in this anthology be considered 'publication' considering the book is not for sale?
Comments please

To my mind Zondrae if it was not stated in the rules of the competition that an anthology would be compiled then permission from each of the poets would have to be obtained. Saying this I don't think that you can supply them with the contacts either ?

They as a company should understand this and not place you in this position perhaps a comprise would be to include this in the rules for the future and advise them of that ? My thoughts would be that if they are not ok with his then perhaps they are not the sponsor that you want ?

Just my thoughts perhaps one of our other organisers may clarify it better.

Bob

zondrae wrote:The anthology will not be for sale but handed out to clients of the business. I have been asked to hand over the poems.
I believe I do not have the right to do this. The business has been a major sponsor of the competition. If they drop out it will leave me having to hunt round for another sponsor.

That is correct Zondrae, you do not have the right to hand those poems over to the sponsor unless there was a clause in the competition 'conditions' expressly stating that they would be and their purpose AND the competitors agreed.

Copyright ALWAYS remains with the author unless they sign their works over in whole or in part.
Permission for use cannot be implied and must be given by the author - preferably in writing.

Perhaps Zondrae could write to the entrants individually explaining the situation (with the sponsor to pay for the postage)?

My understanding is you would need permission, and most probably written permission, to publish.
And as an aside, publish includes performance as well as written work. As I understand it, to publish in any form requires author permission. This is occupying my mind quite a lot lately as we prepare for the NSW Championships at Binalong. Copyright is a big issue and I believe we as a bush poetry community need to be vigilant. We've all heard people perform works without attribution (or the wrong attribution) and that is quite simply illegal. And I have been advised that competition organisers can be held liable.
There are some good fact sheets on these sites http://www.copyright.org.au/ and www.artslaw.com.au
Megan Washington just got money (unspecified amount) from Qantas for a similar alleged breach.

Thanks to everyone who replied.
I have come to an arrangement with the sponsor that I will try to get in touch with past entrants (mainly winners) and have them contact the sponsor. If they don't wish to do that but are willing to have their poem (s)included in his free anthology, they can email me their poems and I will pass them on. He is happy to go ahead with the sponsorship for this year in good faith as I am happy to act as intermediary. So we are all happy-as I hope the clients for his B& are when they read our poems.

Again thanks