Thumbs Down Review on WESTAF

Thumbs Down Review on WESTAF

** You will need to know what the abbreviation WESTAF means**
It stands for: Western States Arts Federation, a Colorado non-profit corporation (“WESTAF”).
WESTAF uses the CaFÉ™ Software.

I know many artists that create sculptures and thought the contest for “Your Physical Art in Sculpture Park Augmented Reality Exhibition (done from your studio anywhere) – it’s a contest for sculptures that will be put in a virtual Sculpture Forest” sounded like a wonderful project and contest to join. It took clicking through three pages to find the Terms and Conditions. Doing so was worth the effort albeit turned out as bad news. I used my guidelines and also checked Trust Pilot to make sure the business was legitimate. Here’s the findings:

Trust Pilot has no information on Cafe software or WESTAF.

WESTAF must hope that artists are stupid and don’t understand terminology or legalese. Here’s the page >> https://www.callforentry.org/terms-and-conditions/.

Definition: Non-exclusive = Not exclusive, General. Non means No; not. Exclusive means not divided or shared with others. Thus non-exclusive means it is divided or shared with others.

Here’s the vital info about your artists rights and copyright:
Data Ownership

Point #4, first sentence reads: “Grant of Limited Rights; No Copyright Transfer. Artist hereby grants to WESTAF a nonexclusive license to use the Application, Artwork and Images.”

You do not have to look any further because WESTAF expects the artist to turn over a nonexclusive license.

There’s two articles that I wrote on this point:
Can You Trust This?
Reading the Fine Print is Vital

Here’s two quick quotes from the article “Reading the Fine Print is Vital”:
1. “While the idea of extending a brand with new products and experiences may be exciting to both licensees and brand owners, it is important to remember that it isn’t free or easy.”

2. ”Protect your intellectual property. Protecting your intellectual property (IP) is one of the most important factors behind licensing your brand. The last thing you want is to accidentally give someone full, unfettered access to your brand assets without getting anything in return.”

Don’t do business with WESTAF or use the Cafe software.

Best,

Ilia

p.s. If you would like a site reviewed, please contact me. I’ll be happy to do it.