Media Release Included in R2 Demo Drive Liability Waiver

[DeafPug]

I have this odd habit of actually reading most agreements that I sign. I signed up for a Demo Drive in the R2 and was kind of surprised at what I saw on the second page of the document. There is a "media release" section that grants Rivian full rights to record you during the drive and use video and photos for any media campaign in the future without compensation and to also include your actual name in those and that you waive all rights to approve the use of the images and/or your name and demographics in their advertising.

What in the actual ....?

Or am I totally off the mark here and misreading these paragraphs in the "liability waiver"? (Sorry about the bad screen grab, which was required to take the image on the phone screen since they don't let you view the document on your computer, only a small phone, making it less likely that you'll actually read it).

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[Millbarge]

I have this odd habit of actually reading most agreements that I sign. I signed up for a Demo Drive in the R2 and was kind of surprised at what I saw on the second page of the document. There is a "media release" section that grants Rivian full rights to record you during the drive and use video and photos for any media campaign in the future without compensation and to also include your actual name in those and that you waive all rights to approve the use of the images and/or your name and demographics in their advertising.

What in the actual ....?

Or am I totally off the mark here and misreading these paragraphs in the "liability waiver"? (Sorry about the bad screen grab, which was required to take the image on the phone screen since they don't let you view the document on your computer, only a small phone, making it less likely that you'll actually read it).

unfortunately, I think that's pretty typical these days

 

[Mos Eisley]

That's standard media rights boilerplate for most events. Nowhere does it say "during the drive" - rather at the "experience". It does not say it will record you using any in-vehicle cameras. It simply means that if you attend a Rivian event/experience where they might have marketing present to capture media, that it gives them a blanket waiver to create something like:

Wherein 99.99% of people will respond: "Cool! Look! That's me in a Rivian ad!"

 

[DeafPug]

I called Rivian and received a call back from someone at the local demo site. As mentioned, the language is in there for events like the road shows that previously happened. At the demo drives that are being scheduled now, they don't take any pictures, other than of your driver's license, which isn't used past the demo drive. They don't have a second copy of the waiver without the media release or provide a way for you to strike that language out of the document.

Frankly, they shouldn't have that language in the generic liability waiver because a media waiver shouldn't be required for doing a demo drive. How do they handle people that show up at the events like those pictured above if the person isn't going to do a demo drive? Maybe in that case, only people that sign the liability waiver are permitted on the property, but it is very strange to tie the two into a single document when they are rarely actually tied together.

 

[Jeremy3292]

I called Rivian and received a call back from someone at the local demo site. As mentioned, the language is in there for events like the road shows that previously happened. At the demo drives that are being scheduled now, they don't take any pictures, other than of your driver's license, which isn't used past the demo drive. They don't have a second copy of the waiver without the media release or provide a way for you to strike that language out of the document.

Frankly, they shouldn't have that language in the generic liability waiver because a media waiver shouldn't be required for doing a demo drive. How do they handle people that show up at the events like those pictured above if the person isn't going to do a demo drive? Maybe in that case, only people that sign the liability waiver are permitted on the property, but it is very strange to tie the two into a single document when they are rarely actually tied together.

Why are you so worried about this? It's their cars; it's their terms. Don't like it? Don't drive the car. You just said they aren't taking pictures of you anyways. It's just a generic waiver and a big non-issue IMO. Did you really think some local employee would be able to give you a new waiver? That is a top of the house legal department thing, not some guy who gives you the keys for a demo drive lol.

 

[justinkitswa]

I'd bet that person on the bike didn't consent to their name, image and/or likeness being used for promotional purposes by Rivian...

 

[Millbarge]

I called Rivian and received a call back from someone at the local demo site. As mentioned, the language is in there for events like the road shows that previously happened. At the demo drives that are being scheduled now, they don't take any pictures, other than of your driver's license, which isn't used past the demo drive. They don't have a second copy of the waiver without the media release or provide a way for you to strike that language out of the document.

Frankly, they shouldn't have that language in the generic liability waiver because a media waiver shouldn't be required for doing a demo drive. How do they handle people that show up at the events like those pictured above if the person isn't going to do a demo drive? Maybe in that case, only people that sign the liability waiver are permitted on the property, but it is very strange to tie the two into a single document when they are rarely actually tied together.

It's not that strange. they have a document that works for what they need, it just has a bunch of language that doesn't apply. They don't want to bother having lawyers prepare a separate document, and have employees trying to figure out which agreement to use for which instance. So they have one document that always applies. This is incredibly common, and if you read everything that made you click "I AGREE", you'd see the exact same thing, and a ton of stuff that's way scarier.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Without digging too much into photography rights, it seems like this would be a public event in a public space, thus = no reasonable expectation of privacy. As mentioned above "Cool, that's me in a Rivian ad!" is probably going to be most people's reaction.

Would be a bit different if they put your face on their billboard implying you, specifically, are endorsing the product (or something along those lines).

 

[Dark-Fx]

I called Rivian and received a call back from someone at the local demo site. As mentioned, the language is in there for events like the road shows that previously happened. At the demo drives that are being scheduled now, they don't take any pictures, other than of your driver's license, which isn't used past the demo drive. They don't have a second copy of the waiver without the media release or provide a way for you to strike that language out of the document.

Frankly, they shouldn't have that language in the generic liability waiver because a media waiver shouldn't be required for doing a demo drive. How do they handle people that show up at the events like those pictured above if the person isn't going to do a demo drive? Maybe in that case, only people that sign the liability waiver are permitted on the property, but it is very strange to tie the two into a single document when they are rarely actually tied together.

The amount of people that will care enough to not do the demo drive is probably less than one half of one percent.

Most of us are too ugly to be featured anyway.

 

[Millbarge]

Without digging too much into photography rights, it seems like this would be a public event in a public space, thus = no reasonable expectation of privacy. As mentioned above "Cool, that's me in a Rivian ad!" is probably going to be most people's reaction.

Would be a bit different if they put your face on their billboard implying you, specifically, are endorsing the product (or something along those lines).

reasonable expectation of privacy isn't the same as using your likeness for commercial purposes

 

[southerncadesi]

Just wear a MAGA hat or something so they don't use your footage.

 

[Zathras]

This is pretty standard boilerplate stuff for such events. I was a photographer for about 45 years, and a photo editor for 20. So I had to deal with legal aspects of photography all the time.

It's basically lawyers doing what lawyers do. Over do it to cover all the bases for all eternity regardless of whether the terms are reasonable or egregious. I think they have some newsletter that sends out agreements like this and they don't even bother considering the needs of anybody but themselves. But they have a right to take whatever photos they want on their property and to use them in marketing, where right to privacy is a big legal minefield. So there's two sides to it.

 

[Jeremy3292]

Just wear a MAGA hat or something so they don't use your footage.

Post of the year thus far

 

[RedScare]

I have been a licensed attorney for over 40 years. And, like most experienced attorneys, I didn't read the waiver. Now that you've told me what's in it, I realize that I didn't miss anything.

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