Photographer Says College Bid’s a Secret

AUSTIN (CN) - A photography company sued the Texas Attorney General to try to keep secret its bid for the contract to shoot a college commencement ceremony. The state said the bid does not contain confidential information, but Flash Photography disagrees.

Photos of graduates receiving their diploma have become a standard part of colleges' commencement packages. Parents customarily receive a letter with thumbprint shots in the days or weeks after graduation, with offers for photo packages.

Flash Photography says it asked Attorney General Greg Abbott to keep portions of its bid private from competitors. It claims that its bid "contained new techniques Flash independently developed to incorporate new digital photography technology into the market."

Abbott disagreed, and said that Flash did not meet all the requirements to keep its full proposal out of the competitions hands.

Flash says that after it won the bid, a competitor, Ultimate Exposures, requested a copy of the proposal.

Flash claims its proposal contains proprietary information which "was developed over several months through a collaboration of Flash's top marketing and sales people."

Flash seeks declaratory judgment. It is represented by Katie Anderson with Strasburger Price in Dallas.

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