Heinrich Bauer, the German publishing group who now owns a large chunk of the consumer magazine publishing and radio empire formerly known as EMAP (£1.1Bn sale in November 2007), have a new contract which they are seeking to impose on freelance photographers. It is, even by the increasingly feudal standards of the industry, a landmark in predatory unreasonableness that fails to recognise freelances are small businesses, not serfs. Quite honestly, only an idiot would sign it.

Here are the outstandingly awful clauses:

2. ...you shall provide us with all materials on which the Commissioned Works are embodied (including without limitation negatives and data files including any metadata instruction).

So no similars. You must hand over the whole shoot.

4. By signing and returning t his agreement to us, you hereby (i) irrevocably assign to us (by way of present assignment of all present and future rights) and with full title guarantee all legal and beneficial right, title and interest in the intellectual property rights in the commissioned Works whether vested, contingent or future together with all accrued rights of action in respect of any infringement of the intellectual property rights in the Commissioned Works (the "Assignment"); and (ii) irrevocably and unconditionally waive any and all moral rights to which you may be entitled under any legislation now existing or in the future enacted in any part of the world. You agree to provide (at your own cost) all information and assistance reasonably required by us for and in connection with the Assignment and to do all such things and execute all such documents as we may reasonably require in that regard.

Let's be clear : this is the Mother of all Copyright Grabs, even precluding any moral rights that might be provided by future legislation anywhere in the world. And you get to pay for anything necessary to ensure your work will belong to Bauer.

6. We shall have the right to reformat, combine, crop, distort, retouch, amend or otherwise edit any Commissioned Work provided hat a Commissioned Work may not be reformatted, combined, cropped, distorted, retouched, amended or otherwise edited in a malicious manner.

So Bauer can mutilate your work, so long as it's not done maliciously. But since you already gave up your moral rights, at least they won't ruin your reputation by running your byline alongside.

8.2 without prejudice to the generality of paragraph 8.1, either the Commissioned Works will be in their entirety your own original work or you have obtained all rights (including without limitation all intellectual property rights), title and interest in the Commissioned Works (or any part thereof) from any third party and you have all necessary power, authority and title to grant the Assignment in the Commissioned Works [provided that we acknowledge that the Commissioned Works may contain third party content to the extent permitted under section 30 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988];

A truly megalomanic clause that requires you to also assign copyright of any third party whose work is incorporated in your own, eg of included work in a derivative work you have made. In other words, Bauer insists you grab the copyright of any third party so they can grab the whole lot from you. Screw up on this and you'll be rogered by both sides, by Bauer for breach of contract and by the third party for infringement. Cute.

8.3 none of the Commissioned Works has been used by you or by any third party and you will not use any of the commissioned Works and you have not and will not authorise the use of any of the Commissioned Works by any third party;

You can't use your own work before or after you make it, and you can't let anyone else use it either. Want to use it in a portfolio or on your website? You can't, it's Bauer's work, not yours.

8.4 there will be no restrictions on how or where the Commissioned Works are published or exploited by us or any of our sublicensees or assigns;

Just in case it wasn't clear : for the umpteenth time, it's Bauer's work, not yours.

8.5 nothing in any of the Commissioned Works will be obscene, indecent, racist, defamatory or otherwise actionable under any law; and

Fair enough but t's unlikely anything you do will be as obscene as this contract

8.6 facts stated in the Commissioned Works to be true are true.

At last, an almost reasonable stipulation, only unreasonable because it gives no latitude for errors made in good faith..

9. You shall indemnify us for any breach of paragraph 8. You agree to provide us, on request, with all assistance, notes and
materials necessary to substantiate claims made in any of the Commissioned Works. You agree to co -operate fully in responding
to and defending complaints and claims relating to any of the Commissioned Works made by a third party.

Give us the paperwork too...

10. You promise to keep all matters concerning us (and our associated companies), our publications and your work for us confidential.

After all, Bauer wouldn't want it known what they're up to.

11. The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 shall not apply to this agreement.

This Act provides for a third party to a contract - eg someone who is not Bauer or the commissioned contributor - to benefit from it. Bauer ain't having no third-party claims.

12. This agreement shall be binding on and enure for the benefit of each party's successor in title.

Even when you're dead all this stuff applies.

13. You shall not be entitled to assign, or otherwise dispose of all or any part of your rights, benefits, obligations, ti tle or interest under
this agreement. We are entitled to assign, novate, sub -license and otherwise dispose of this agreement and/or any of our rights,
benefits, obligations, title or interest under this agreement.

No wriggle room, Bauer can do whatever they like with the work you made, and you can do nothing. Got that?

This is a contemptible document that undercuts all expectations of fairness. Copyright law enables freelance creators to retain their rights in what they create for a very good reason : as independent small businesses our work is the only asset we will ever possess. H. Bauer clearly has other ideas, appropriating copyright and imposing liabilities that go far beyond what an employer would be able to demand of an an employee, but with none of an employer's statutory duties or responsibilities. We hope that nobody signs it. Whatever short-term advantage you may imagine signing may gain over colleagues and competitors, you will be fouling your own nest and contributing to an increasingly toxic environment for photographers. The only way to discourage these things is to say 'no'.

The NUJ has also flagged up the Bauer contract as a landmark in corporate greed, at http://www.londonfreelance.org/fl/0808baue.html