Question regarding concern over the rights of Ning.com over its member posted photographs and images

[christi pemberton]

Hello. A few artists/photographers using Ning.com to post their creative works and photographs expressed a concern over a part of Ning.com's Terms of Service. This is a quote that one of the photographers stated in his question over Ning.coms rights over posted creative works (i.e., photographs, art, and other images).

""You hereby grant Ning, during the course of your usage of the Ning Platform, a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicenseable and transferable right and license to (i) use, reproduce, create derivative works of, distribute, publicly perform and publicly display Your Content (a) for the sole purpose of operating and making Your Content available on the Ning Platform and in all current and future media in which the Ning Platform may now or hereafter be distributed or transmitted or (b) for our internal business purposes."

I am guessing that Ning.com is stating that Ning.com has the right to display and have these works in its platform, as long as the creators of this content allow for this content to be posted on the Ning.com platform that he/she uses to display the content. There is, however, a concern that this paragraph in the Terms and Services may look similar to what Facebook is doing when it comes to keeping photographs on display or in their Facebook's storage even after the person who posted the photos deletes his/her profile and leaves Facebook. This issue with Facebooks has been causing a lot of problems between Facebook and its members/users. 

Can someone tell me exactly how much control Ning.com users have when it comes to other's photographs and creative works. I work with a lot of artists who may give me permission to use their works, but when that permission is over, the works have to be taken down or deleted from the public space that I use. 

Thank you. 

Christi

[Jenny]

Hi Christi,

I completely understand your concern, especially as an artist! Rest assured, we take everyone's rights seriously and we don't claim any ownership rights in any content that's uploaded to Ning. As mentioned in the Terms of Service, "Ning does not claim any ownership rights in Your Content. After posting Your Content, you continue to retain ownership of Your Content, and you continue to have the right to use and license Your Content in any way you choose." We only receive a limited license to content so that we can make it available for you (and others) on Ning! For more information, check out Section 5 of our Terms of Service.

If you have any additional questions, please shoot us a message at the Ning Help Center.

Thanks!
Jenny

[The PL Team (d&e)]

Just wanted to pop in my 2 cents. We currently have a photograph featured on the front page of Ning.com. IF there were an issue with the photograph utilized, the photographer or model would notify us, and we in turn would write a calm and friendly email to the support team at Ning asking if it were cool to swap out image and explaining why. I feel comfortable knowing that someone would respond and we'd work something out.

This is the type of service you receive with a company that is in touch with their member base and creators.

-e

[Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam]

Hi, Christi, Thanks a lot for information. I have some of my work at http://ecostrategiccommunicators.ning.com that I you may like to see and comment.