FIDIUS: Fighting for Fair Design Competitions

Designers of all disciplines increasingly encounter situations where copyright users exploit their creative achievements as a source of ideas to unfavourable conditions.

Design competitions are a popular choice when it comes to getting as cheaply and extensively as possible the benefits of user rights.

However, the conditions of competitions are often formulated in a way that they favour only the organiser, and sometimes the conditions are not even put down in detail at all.

Due to the difficult overall economic situation, designers frequently come to the point where they see themselves compelled to even accept blatantly unfavourable conditions "with their eyes open."

The objective of the association FIDIUS - fair design competitions, which is now in the process of being founded, is to ensure that in the future there will be fair conditions and that competitions strictly and consistently adhered to them.

FIDIUS is not only a name; it is the association's programme. FIDIUS will give a "positive award" and a "negative award" every year, one each for a fair and an unfair design competition.

FIDIUS will start its activities in 2006.

Until July 30, 2006, designers are invited to submit to the association examples of an unfair and/or particularly fair design competition and are asked to make sure that they enclose the corresponding invitation documents of the competition.