Shady contract

[Pixelestial]

In seeking a position as a game concept artist, I came across one company that requires artists to sign an agreement before even being considered for employment. For them to even look at your portfolio, you have to agree to things like:

-You acknowledge and agree that the company's employees may in the future submit to the company ideas which may be similar or identical to the ideas in the submitted materials.

-You hereby release the company from any and all liability for any loss, destruction, theft, or damage to your submitted materials, howsoever caused, including the negligence, gross negligence, or willful misconduct of the company's employees.

The way I'm reading this, it sure sounds like it transfers the copyright of any images in your portfolio to the company (!). My question is, how is this legal? Is this standard practice in the business? Because it seems pretty shifty to me, and has given me pause about applying. And I'm not exactly in a position to be picky.

[daveneale]

yeah sounds pretty suspect to me. If I were you I'd just write to them asking exactly what that part means, if there is a genuine reason for this clause then they won't mind answering, if it's dodgy, and they get arsey you know theres something up. Whenever I get a contract and there's stuff I don't understand I just ask them to explain it-if it's a reputable company they're more than happy to explain it to you.

[Qitsune]

I'm not sure about the wording but as far as I know these are pretty standard and serve real purposes:
1-what if they already are working on a game with similar theme to your portfolio and the concept artists have already made designs that look like yours? Ok, now, imagine that you sue them because you say that they stole your designs and they have to prove that the designs were already done?
They don't want that kind of hassle so they say that they might do stuff like yours in the future. Does it mean they intend to rip you? I doubt that if they don't like your stuff eough to hire you, they like it enough to rip you off.
2-NEVER, EVER,EVER send originals for review, you can BRING originals for an interview but never leave them there. They don't want to be bugged by rejected interviewees looking for lost portfolios and they don't want bogus lawsuits for lost portfolios full of crap that the artist says is worth a lot.

I hope this helps.