These terms and conditions (Terms) set out the basis on which you agree to share or submit your own original text, photographs, graphics, audio or video content or other material (Contributed Content) to South West News Service Limited (trading as SWNS).
Please read these Terms carefully before providing any Contributed Content to SWNS, as SWNS cannot for operational reasons guarantee that any Contributed Content will not be published before you have had a chance to change your mind. If you do not agree with these Terms, then you should not share or submit any Contributed Content to SWNS.
If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact the SWNS Picture Desk by email at pix@swns.com or by phone on +44(0)117 906 6550.
1. License of Contributed Content
a. By signing this contract you are assigning to SWNS an exclusive license to all the rights you hold in the Contributed Content. You are granting SWNS a licence to use such Contributed Content in any way that SWNS may reasonably decide, in any form or media throughout the world for the duration of this contract (for Termination, see Section 5). This includes, without limitation, the right to sell, distribute and publish the Contributed Content on any platform or publication chosen by SWNS to best maximise the revenue potential of the Contributed Content (including, without limitation, on SWNS owned websites and video platforms). You also agree that SWNS may grant further licences to other parties (including, without limitation, other news agencies and media outlets) to use the Contributed Content on similar terms.
b. You confirm that the Contributed Content belongs to you, you are the copyright holder, and that you have the right to share or submit the Contributed Content to SWNS. You also confirm that the content or information you have provided to SWNS is truthful and factually correct. Provided you are the owner of the Contributed Content, you will continue to own all copyright and other similar rights in the Contributed Content.
c. Unless agreed otherwise in writing, the above licence is granted by you on an exclusive basis from this moment forward. You agree you will no longer share or submit the Contributed Content to digital or printed publications, social media platforms or other news organisations or rights agencies without permission from SWNS. This will enable SWNS to best protect your interests and maximise the revenue potential of the Contributed Content.
d. You acknowledge that SWNS will have the right to take legal action against anyone who infringes the above rights; however SWNS will not be obliged to do so.
e. By signing this agreement, you confirm this content is not currently and will not be in the future subject to any licence agreement with any other third party which would prevent SWNS exercising the rights granted in 1a. This includes license agreements with digital or printed publications, licensing or news agencies similar to SWNS, copyright infringement services, news agencies, or any other distributor of media content.
f. If you sign this agreement without the correct legal authority, or if the Contributed Content is subject to a prior licence agreement as outlined above in paragraph 1e, SWNS reserves the right to withhold payment.
g. This agreement does not preclude the Contributed Content being posted on, or remaining on, your personal social media pages. However it will help SWNS monetise your content and help you manage sales enquires if you include the following on your social media pages: ** This content is being managed by SWNS. To licence for editorial or commercial use please contact licensing@swns.com +44 (0) 1179066550 **
2. Payment
a. SWNS agrees to pay you 50 per cent of all individual sales of the Contributed Content on a syndicated basis. This includes but is not limited to sales to newspapers, websites, magazines, social media platforms, TV stations and TV production companies. It will be the responsibility of SWNS at all times to use its network of customers to maximise the revenue potential of the Contributed Content on your behalf.
b. Where SWNS agrees to pay you for any Contributed Content on a syndicated basis, SWNS will use its reasonable efforts to pay any sums to you within 28 days of SWNS receiving payment from such party or sooner wherever that is practically possible.
c. SWNS will use reasonable efforts to provide you with details of any sales of the Contributed Content when processing any payments due to you via its platform SWNS.rocks. However for operational reasons it is SWNS policy to not provide copies of any invoices received by SWNS for any Contributed Content.
d. SWNS will make any payments due to you by PayPal (to the PayPal registered email supplied by you) or by bank transfer (to the bank account number and sort code provided by you).
e. If you do not claim a payment within six months of it being added to your SWNS.rocks account it will be retained by SWNS.
f. Sometimes, there are reasons why SWNS cannot offer any payment for Contributed Content, for example, if this would breach anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws or this would breach the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) Editors’ Code of Practice.
g. You are responsible for accounting for any tax due on money that you receive from SWNS for content that you provide to us under this and any other agreement. By signing this contract you agree to indemnify SWNS on a continuing basis against any liability, including any interest, penalties or costs incurred, which is levied, demanded or assessed on SWNS at any time in respect of your failure to account for or to pay any relevant tax in respect of any payments made to you under this Agreement.
3. Standards and editorial control
a. You confirm that the Contributed Content is not illegal or unlawful in any way and has not been the subject of any actual or threatened court or other legal proceedings. In particular, you confirm that the Contributed Content is not defamatory and does not infringe anyone else’s rights (including privacy rights).
b. You also confirm that you have the consent of anyone who is identifiable in any Contributed Content or the consent of their parent/guardian if they are under the age of 16.
c. SWNS reserves the right to cut, crop, edit or otherwise modify the Contributed Content in any way for editorial and operational reasons. SWNS also reserves the right, without any liability to you, to remove any Contributed Content entirely at the discretion of SWNS for example if SWNS believes or is notified that any Contributed Content does not comply with these Terms.
4. Publication and credit
a. SWNS does not guarantee that it will use any Contributed Content or that any of the parties that it has licensed to use any Contributed Content will publish it.
b. SWNS will distribute your Contributed Content with a byline in the format “[Your Name] / SWNS” unless you request otherwise. However the final discretion lies with the publisher and SWNS therefore cannot guarantee that you will receive credit for any Contributed Content.
5. Termination
a. This agreement commences on the date it is signed and shall continue until either you or SWNS terminates it in writing.
b. Either you or SWNS may terminate the agreement at any time, provided that written confirmation is given with at least 28 days’ notice.
c. Upon termination, the rights granted by you to SWNS as outlined in section 1 above will cease subject to the 28 day notice period.
d. Upon termination, SWNS will cease to distribute, sell or publish the content and will cease all marketing activity around the content subject to the 28 day notice period.
e. SWNS will continue to accrue all revenues earned and agreed prior to the termination date.
f. SWNS will pay all revenues due to you under the terms of this licence that were accrued prior to the termination date.
g. All usage rights in the Contributed Content licensed by SWNS to third parties as permitted in 1a prior to termination will remain under the terms agreed by SWNS at the time of licensing including but not limited to duration, territory and media.
h. Licensing rights for the period prior to the termination date cannot be transferred by you to another party or licensing agency.
6. Other important terms
a. SWNS is the trading name of South West News Services Limited, a limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 6561578 having its registered office at Media Centre, Emma-Chris Way, Filton, Bristol BS34 7JU, United Kingdom.
b. When these Terms refer to any matter being agreed “in writing”, this will include e-mail.
c. SWNS may transfer its rights and obligations under these Terms to another organisation, but this will not affect your rights or SWNS’ obligations under these Terms.
d. These Terms and the agreement that they create is between you and SWNS. No other person will have any right to enforce these Terms.
e. Each paragraph of these Terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful or enforceable, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.
f. If SWNS fails to insist that you perform any of your obligations under these Terms, or if SWNS does not enforce its rights against you, or delays in doing so, that will not mean that SWNS has waived its rights against you and will not mean that you do not have to comply with those obligations. If SWNS does waive a default by you, it will only do so in writing, and that will not mean that SWNS automatically waives any later default by you.
g. Any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms will be governed by English law. You and SWNS both agree that the courts of England and Wales will have non-exclusive jurisdiction to settle any disputes or claims.
7. Privacy
a. SWNS is registered as a data controller with the ICO under number Z1433952. Our Privacy Policy explains what personal data we process about you, why we process it, the lawful reasons we have for processing it and how long we keep it for. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data. You are encouraged to read our full privacy policy which is available at www.swns.com/privacy-policy
By signing this agreement, you agree to be bound by all of the Terms set out in this agreement.
