With the launch of the submission process, the flag.govt.nz site was updated with the official terms and conditions for submitting a flag design for consideration.
The terms and conditions start off well with clear and concise language outlining the submission process with obvious points such as:
You confirm that each Flag Design you suggest, including each element of each Flag Design, is:
a. an original work made by you and no one else, except to the extent you disclose otherwise under clause 12;
b. not copied; and
c. not illegal, offensive or derogatory.
So far, so good. Next up, the terms surrounding the consideration of the designs by the panel. In this section they allow for any design to be considered, so it is not necessarily a requirement that the design be submitted as part of the official process:
The Panel and the Crown each reserve the right to consider other flag designs suggested before, during or after the Suggestion Period.
As I quoted in the post about the “Terms Of Reference”, there is room for a design company to be engaged outside of the open submissions process. It will be interesting to see if this happens, and if so, in what capacity the design industry is involved.
The next section outlines what happens if you’re fortunate enough to have your flag shortlisted. It turns out you might have the GCSB investigating you. As the terms and conditions delicately put it, you’ll be required to “submit to checks”, of which they provide a couple of examples:
If your Flag Design is selected as one of a shortlist of preferred designs to be subjected to a due diligence process (Shortlisted Designs) by the Panel, you and any other author of your Flag Design acknowledge that you may be required to submit to checks, for example intellectual property checks and a criminal conviction check. Any information obtained during or as a result of these checks may be taken into account by the Panel and may exclude your Flag Design from further consideration.
This makes sense and allows the Government to avoid any X Factor or Bachelorette type of embarrassment by not properly vetting those who have submissions shortlisted.
The next section of the terms and conditions outlines that you’ll “grant the Crown an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, sub-licensable licence to use, copy, modify, adapt and/or publish your Flag Design for any purposes the Crown sees fit in relation to the selection of a new flag for New Zealand.” Goodbye rights. This means they’ll have the ability to:
Alter or amend your Flag Design, merge or combine your Flag Design with any other flag design or use elements of your Flag Design in another flag design.
Hard not to worry about that clause. If you submit a design and it gets shortlisted you could end up seeing it ‘merged’ with another submission. Maybe you forgot to add the Southern Cross, well the Government could fix that for you an create a Silver Fern / Southern Cross hybrid, presenting our two must commonly submitted symbols, regardless of their suitability. I joke… Although this could be used to alter a design, it might only be required to simply perfect a submission for production and manufacturing.
Alongside merging or combining your design you also grant the Government the ability to publish your design in any medium throughout the process. This also covers any future use after the referendums. Basically, if your flag makes the cut, you’ll have no say in how it is presented or used.
The following section on intellectual property and moral rights is interesting as it explains what you’ve waiving:
While the Crown will acknowledge authors as described in clause 13, by suggesting a Flag Design you hereby waive all of your moral rights arising from your Flag Design throughout the world, to the extent that you may lawfully do so, and you agree not to assert any of your moral rights, and to provide all consents required by the Crown, in relation to the use and publication of your Flag Design…
The section continues by outlining where and how your submission can be used. It’s no surprise the Government is making it very clear that you will have no legal ownership of your design, as well as many other clauses that protect their interests. Considering the circumstances, any open submission process requires all-encompassing terms and conditions, and that’s what these set out.
One of better clauses in the terms and conditions is the re-assignment of rights that you can request if your design is not selected:
If your Flag Design is chosen as a Shortlisted Design but is not ultimately chosen to be the next New Zealand flag, then you may request that the Crown re-assigns the rights transferred under clause 15 so that you regain ownership of all rights you had before you suggested your Flag Design.
Finally, if things go pear-shaped the crown reserves the right to cancel the process. Always a good idea to have a get out of jail card…
The Crown reserves the right to vary or cancel the Flag Consideration Project at any time.