CONTEST RULES AND PRECEDENTS
Do you need contest rules/precedents
for a Canadian contest?
We offer many types of Canadian contest/sweepstakes law precedents and forms (Canadian contest/sweepstakes law precedents for running common types of contests in Canada). These include legal precedents for random draw contests (where winners are chosen by random draw), skill contests (e.g., essay, photo or other types of contests where entrants submit content that is judged to enter the contest or for additional entries), trip contests and more.
Also available are individual Canadian contest/sweepstakes precedents, including short rules (mini rules), long rules, winner release forms and a Canadian contest law checklist.
For more information and to order see: Canadian Contest Law Forms/Precedents.
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For more Canadian advertising/marketing, CASL (anti-spam), competition/antitrust and contest law terms and phrases, see: Advertising Law Terms, CASL Law Terms – A-M, CASL Law Terms – N-Z, Competition Law Terms, Contest Law Terms – A-C, Contest Law Terms – D-H, Contest Law Terms – I-M and Contest Law Terms – N-S.
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The following are Canadian promotional contest / sweepstakes words and phrases from Canadian cases, commentaries and enforcement agencies (e.g., the federal Competition Bureau) (T-Z):
Trip/destination contests.
Trip contests, which are sometimes called “destination contests”, are often run by local and international governments to promote tourism to their country or destination. Such contests may be either random draw or skill based but will award a trip(s) as the contest prize. Such prizes may include inclusive trips for one or more persons, trip vouchers or cash for a trip, which may be arranged by the contest sponsor or be the responsibility of the winner(s) (e.g., who merely receive cash or trip vouchers as the prize). The contest rules for trip/destination contests typically include a number of common types of contest rules, including a detailed description of the trip prize (and any carve-outs), description of any blackout periods, rules regarding the terms to redeem any flight tickets or travel vouchers (e.g., provided by third party prize sponsors) and indemnifications in favour of the contest sponsor in the event issues arise with the trip. Given that trip/destination contests also commonly award trips for two or more (including travel companions) and involve more potential risk for sponsors than other types of promotions, it is also generally prudent to require winners and their travel companions to sign winner and companion release forms as a condition of awarding the prize(s).
Twisted text prize.
Consumer Protection BC, “Top Ten Scams 2013 – Just in case a scam is around the corner”: “You receive a text message. When you open it, you are surprised by a message informing you that you’ve won a major retailer’s gift card. You just need to go to a website and enter a PIN, and the card is yours. You are asked to enter the PIN and an email address. Then, you are taken to a form and instructed to fill out your name, cell number, mailing address and answer unrelated personal questions, such as ‘Are you interested in going back to school?’ and ‘Are you diabetic?’ When you reach the page to ‘claim your gift card,’ you instead find yourself directed to another site to apply for a credit card. In the end, you never receive a credit card and you have given out personal information.”
Unduly delayed.
Section 74.06 of the federal Competition Act, which requires contest sponsors to provide adequate and fair disclosure of certain information relating to promotional contests, also provides that distribution of prizes cannot be “unduly delayed”. “Unduly delayed” is not defined in the Competition Act. The Competition Bureau also does not take a position as to what “unduly delayed” means in its Promotional Contests Enforcement Guidelines. In one case under the predecessor section to 74.06, Popsicle Industries was convicted for a Popsicle Points promotion in which Popsicle ran out of Nintendo game prizes.
Voting contest.
A voting contest is a skill-based contest (as compared to a chance contest where winners are chosen, for example, by way of random draw) where winners or finalists are chosen by public voting. Some common types of skill-based contests that involve voting include photo and essay contests. In voting contests, contest sponsors may structure the contest in a variety of ways, including choosing finalists by a panel of judges with winners chosen by public voting, both finalists and winners chosen by public voting or other structures where some group of contest entrants is chosen by voting. Voting contests are, however, commonly susceptible to cheating unless the voting mechanism is structured to limit votes to one vote per person and to prevent automated voting (e.g., through the use of a captcha mechanism on online voting forms).
Winner release form.
A winner release form is commonly one of several documents used for the operation of promotional contests in Canada (and other countries), together with short rules (mandatory point-of-purchase disclosure) and long rules (containing the more detailed entry and eligibility requirements for the contest). A winner release form commonly includes a declaration by the entrant of contact information, age, residency status, compliance and comprehension with the rules of the contest, no relationship with the contest sponsor and various releases depending on the nature of the contest – for example, to accept the prize as awarded, be responsible for any taxes associated with the prize awarded, release the sponsor from liability and, for promotional contests involving the creation of original material (i.e., skill contests involving the judging of artwork, video, or other talent exercises) transferring rights to the original material to the sponsor and granting the sponsor the right to use and reproduce it.
Written opinion.
Under section 124.1 of the Competition Act, any person may apply to the Commissioner of Competition, together with supporting information, for a binding written opinion regarding the application of any provision of the Act. Written opinions can be a practical way for businesses and individuals to reduce potential competition law liability for proposed conduct. A written opinion is binding on the Commissioner if all material facts relating to the proposed conduct have been submitted. If issued, written opinions remain binding for as long as the material facts on which they are based remain substantially unchanged and the conduct is carried out substantially as proposed. Binding written opinions are available, subject to the Commissioner’s discretion to issue them, for proposed conduct only. In other words, the Bureau will not issue advisory opinions for existing business conduct.
Written opinions are available under the following provisions of the Act, among others: resale price maintenance (section 76), exclusive dealing / tied selling / market restriction (77), abuse of dominance (79), civil agreements provision (90.1), conspiracy (45), misleading advertising and deceptive marketing practices (52, 55.1, 74.01, 74.06), deceptive telemarketing (52.1), deceptive prize notices (53), multi-level marketing and pyramid selling (55 and 55.1), performance claims (74.01(1)(b)) and promotional contests (74.06).
See Competition Act section 124.1; Competition Bureau, website, Legal Actions and Opinions section; Competition Bureau, Bulletin, Competition Bureau Fee and Service Standards Handbook for Written Opinions; definition of “advisory opinion”
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CANADIAN CONTEST & ADVERTISING LAW SERVICES
We are a Toronto based competition and advertising law firm that offers business and individual clients efficient and strategic advice in relation to Canadian competition and advertising laws, including contests/sweepstakes and other types of promotions. Our experience includes advising Canadian and U.S. clients in relation to Canadian contest/sweepstakes, advertising/marketing and competition/antitrust laws.
For more about our contest/advertising law services see: here
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For more information about our firm, visit our website: Competitionlawyer.ca