Illustratoren Organisation and an unfair competition
Germany’s Illustratoren Organisation landed a success in November after warning their members about an unfair competition by publisher G+J and Dawanda. The warning Facebook post became a big success. G+J immediately reacted and changed their contest rules.
In October 2015, Germany’s Illustratoren Organisation (IO) learned about about a competition with unfair rules. It was organised by Dawanda (the German version of Etsy) and Flow magazine (a popular European style and living magazine with a huge focus on illustrated images) by one of Germany’s big publisher Gruner + Jahr (G+J). The competition invited illustrators to send in wrapping paper samples, and as a prize the eight winners were to be published in Flow magazine. By uploading the images, all illustrators taking part in the competition would grant non-exclusive but unlimited rights of use G+J – merely by uploading their images.
IO decided to send an online statement to their members advising against participation. The post became a big hit on IO’s facebook page, too. IO was then very happy to hear that G+J reacted immediately on IO’s post and changed their contest rules. This is a huge success, and IO also thanks G+J for their quick reaction.
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