Please don't let this put you off. However, we make CD-ROMs of the great artwork that is submitted to the competition, and accordingly, need to make sure of some things. We want your rights protected, and everyting to be clearly stated. Please read this.
By adding the line:
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAY TRACING COMPETITION
COPYRIGHT.
in the .txt file that accompanies your submission, you are agreeing to
the following statement. This statement may change, in which case you
are bound only by the one current at the start of the competition for
which you filled out the .txt file.
THE STANDARD RAY TRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT (oct97 version)
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Ownership
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The uploaded files are the original work of the entrant, who retains all
copyright and ownership rights.
The entrant represents that, except for any public domain code, the
entrant is the sole creator of, and owns all rights to, the submitted work.
Grant of Limited Reproduction and Distribution Rights
-----------------------------------------------------
These files may not be distributed for any purpose without my
express prior written consent except in the following circumstances:
1. Entrant grants IRTC sponsors the right to make prints of images
submitted and to distribute the prints for the purposes of recruiting and
marketing, including demonstration of the sponsors' products. These
reproduction and distribution rights are limited to distribution of image
prints for which the sponsor does not receive any payment.
2. Entrant grants Chris Cason and his associates the right to
include all files in their submission on a CD-ROM which will be sold to
the general public.
3. Entrant grants Chris Cason and his associates the right to
use any files in their submission to promote this CD-ROM, see (2) above.
4. Entrant grants the IRTC the right to use any and all files in their
submission for promotion of the competition and activities related to the
competition.
5. Entrant grants the right of private recreational or non-commercial
use to the general public, EXCEPTING THE RESTRICTIONS (5.1) AND (5.2) below.
5.1. Distribution is not allowed on any storage media that are
accessible over the Internet or similar Wide Area Networks. This prohibits
the use of these files on FTP, WWW or gopher sites, among others.
5.2. Distribution is not allowed on any CD-ROMs or other high capacity
media (optical disks, DVD, etc.) excepting those that are produced in
accordance with (2) above.
This, in plain English, allows this competition to use your files for its purposes, and allows Chris Cason to use your files for producing CD-ROMs. It also allows him to, for instance, use your images on a poster advertising the CD-ROMs. It also permits sponsors to use your images to demonstrate their products and services, such as printers. By "images" we mean any still image or selected frame from animations that you submit to the competition.
YOU STILL OWN THE FILES! You are not asked to surrender your copyright to us or Chris or anyone else, you are merely saying that you grant us permission to use your files for these specific purposes.
You are also allowing private individuals to copy the files to their hard drive, look at them, use them for windows wallpaper, show friends, etc.
It forbids anyone except Chris Cason, or the competition or its sponsors, from using the files for any profit-making activity at all. It does not permit the sponsors to use your images in print advertising--only to use prints they make themselves, for example to demonstrate their products or services.
It also forbids anyone except the competition or Chris from putting the files on FTP sites, WWW sites etc, or on "free" CD-ROMs of any sort.
You may, of course, give your permission personally to anyone you like to do anything with the files ... they are yours!