Legal Status of Competition Winners?

Sleepy

Just curious about this one. If an Irish company were to hold a competition and publish a winner's name and then not contact that person would the 'winner' still be legally entitled to the prize they won?

And to further throw the cat amongst the pigeons, if the competition holder were to email the 'winner' without getting a response, would this remove their liability or would they be obliged to try and contact the winner through other means at their disposal (e.g. a phone number or address details registered with the site).

Sleepy

Surprised nobody knows more about this. My own (non-legally trained) take on this is that the advertised competition would constitute an offer, with the entry counting as acceptance and the publishing of one's name as the consideration and closure of the deal?

Am I right? Does contract law apply to competitions?

Stirling

Not something I know a lot about but as far as your assessment re Consideration goes I can't accept that one. As far as consideration is concerned there are a number of elements which are required for it to be consideration, and by the way this is neither a statement of the law nor is it legal advice - just some nonsense I feel like spouting cause I'm bored :rolleyes:, most notably that it must be sufficient but it need not be adequate.

The publication of a name in any publication could not be considered to be sufficient consideration so I think that consideration is not present and so liabilty cannot be esatblished on a contractual basis.

What we need is someone who knows somthing about Gaming Law and I'm not that person!

sh_o

Stirling wrote:

The publication of a name in any publication could not be considered to be sufficient consideration so I think that consideration is not present and so liabilty cannot be esatblished on a contractual basis.

If the publication of the name was used for publicity then it could be consideration.
If I recall correctly, there was a case on this involving the millionth customer of a cheap airline receiving free flights for life where it was held that the use of the person, albeit their picture etc was sufficient consideration.

Mortmain

Man it's been a while since i've been to boards (so please go easy on me all you pedantic Pat's:D ), but anyhooo here's my two cents worth ...

Following Carlili v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co, it's settled law that an offer can be made to the world at large - first issue sorted.

Your acceptance would be your entry to the competition - second issue sorted,

As regards the issue of consideration ... Two ways of looking at this:
1) if the competitition required a proof of purchase, or some financial outlay (e.g. phone call, stamped addressed envelope etc. - this could well be seen as consideration. It is fairly clear from case law that the amount of consideration is not hugely important.

2) It would seem that there is a willingness in common law countries to move toward the European approach which recognises "intention to create legal relations" this is largely a result of the afore mentioned erosion of the consideration requirement.

As far as I would be concerned, if one were to enter a competition and win it, they would have the same legal rights as a bona fide purchaser regardless of whether or not they were notified (though the latter point may prove a stumbling block in cases of total ignorance

blue4ever

If there was indeed consideration (and the phone cost, stamp or price of a publication is not deemed to be consideration for the entry) then it would be a lottery – and thus illegal.

However, lets say that you entered a competition in a Magazine, leaving all your details. They then publish ‘your name ‘ (yet to be established that you are the exact person). If they email you and you don’t reply - so what.

But, check the terms and conditions – you may have some restrictions here

If a company holds a competition – it has to give away the prize – simple as that. You should phone the company – and if necessary – send a registered letter saying you think you are the winner.