Pro-Imaging

Pentland Group plc t/a Speedo

About this Organisation

Pentland Group plc is a privately held, global brand management company based in the UK involved in the sports, outdoor and fashion markets.  The group owns a number of brands including, Speedo , Ellesse, Berghaus, Red or Dead, Kickers UK and Ted Baker Footwear.

Pentland Group plc operate a number of Group Business Standards Policies including a Code of Business Conduct setting out the expected standards of behaviour towards employees, suppliers, customers and the wider community. In their Corporate Responsibility policy Pentland state their core belief that business should be conducted honestly, fairly, and with respect for people, their rights, and the natural environment. Full details of their policies are set out in the Group Business Standard Policies including a statement in Section 1.6.1 which states that Pentland Group plc "respect other peoples intellectual property rights." A commendable aspiration indeed.

According to an online marketing report Pentland Group plc reputedly had a turnover of about £1billion in 2009.

Pentland Group plc is owned by Stephen Rubin and family. Stephen Rubin is Chairman of the Pentland Group and is Honorary President of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI). He was awarded an OBE in 2002, serves as Honorary Chair of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame since 1992 and is a member of the Institute of Brand and Innovation Law Advisory Body at the Faculty of Laws at University College London. He is also a Vice President for the The Council of Christians and Jews.

In 2009 the Sunday Times placed Stephin Rubin at 141 in their Rich List and at position 25 in the Jewish Power list top 30. The Sunday Times described him as a "Philanthropist who runs the Pentland sportswear company and has an interest in business ethics" and that "the 71 year old has made substantial donations to charity".

Speedo is one of Pentland Group's brands and it specialises in Swimwear. It was founded in 1914 as 'Fortitude', changing its name in 1928 to Speedo and was eventually taken over by the Pentland Group in the 1990's.

About this Report

Photo competitions and image appeals are notified to us by our contributors from around the world. Listed below are some photo competitions or image appeals promoted by the above organisation which have not met the standards set out in the Bill of Rights.

If the terms and conditions of a contest or appeal do not comply with the standards set out in the Bill of Rights a report such as this produced and a link to it is added to the Rights Off List. We have listed in this report the terms and conditions not in compliance with the Bill of Rights to help the organiser carry out a review. The extracted terms and conditions are shown below in italics.

For advice on why failing to comply with the standards set out in the Bill of Rights is a serious issue please read this article.

If at some future date a competition organiser decides to join the Bill of Rights Supporters Group, thus ensuring that all their contests will comply with the Bill of Rights, the Rights Off report for that organisation's competition(s) will be unpublished.

The purpose of the Bill of Rights Campaign is to provide education to the public about the value of rights and to encourage photography competition organisers to adopt the standards set out in the Bill of Rights.

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Design Brief: Speedo Global Headquarters

Closing Date 5pm Monday 24th May 2010

INTRODUCTION

Details of this contest are not available online. Pentland/Speedo have printed a 20 page brochure detailing the contest requirements and distributed the brochure to various colleges/universities in the United Kingdom. A scanned copy of the complete competition brochure has been sent to Pro-Imaging and in this introduction we will summarise what Pentland/Speedo want from the students who enter it.

Students are to choose from the following categories; Outdoor Sculpture, Furniture/Product Design, Textiles/constructed textiles, Fine Art, Photography and Decorative Arts. Students are to develop a one off piece related to Speedo which may, if selected, be placed permanently on show in one of the following:

• Internal themed meeting places; Creative Room, Swim, Innovation, Authenticity, Corporate Responsibility

• Mock Shop

• Reception

• The Speedo Cafe

Further guidance detail is given to the students concerning materials, the look and feel of the work, and that it should sum up Speedo's philosophy, heritage, innovation and corporate responsibility, an important part of which is Speedo's respect for people and their rights. Extracts from the rules of this contest are given below for the purposes of review.

RULES

Who Can Apply

1 Entrants must be:

[a] undergraduate or post graduate students who have studied for not less than 1 full term since 1st January 2008 at an art, architecture, engineering, technical or other design school, college or university in the United Kingdom; or

[b] students who are already engaged in the industry in the United Kingdom provided they are regarded as apprentices or are considered as still learning their profession and have the permission of their employer.

2 Entrants already sponsored by companies and contracted to work for them after graduation are not eligible to enter the competition.

Other Terms

1. Speedo shall own the entire copyright and all other rights in and to all of the entries to the competition. By entering the Competition, contestants irrevocably grant and assign to Speedo International Limited ("Speedo") all rights, title and interest in design(s) submitted as an entry to the competition and agree to Speedo's unrestricted use of the same for Speedo's own purposes in all activities including, without limitation, marketing, promotion, distribution and sale worldwide as Speedo sees fit, without any payment or acknowledgement to the entrant. All copyright, intellectual property rights and all other proprietary rights whether now known or in the future created shall vest in Speedo which it shall be solely entitled to register or otherwise protect at its own expense. By entering the Competition, entrants irrevocably assign to Speedo all rights, title and interest in and to all such intellectual property rights and will co-operate fully in obtaining such registrations or other protection and shall execute such documents as Speedo requires in order to give effect to this paragraph.

PRO-IMAGING COMMENT

1. The terms and conditions are claiming the entrant's copyright. The Bill of Rights does not permit this.

2. The terms and conditions do not state that the entrant will always be credited when his work is reproduced.

3. The terms and conditions state that potential winners are required to complete various additional forms, but the small print of these additional forms is not displayed on the competition website. The Bill of Rights requires all terms and conditions to be on display, even those additional ones that potential winners may have to agree to. It is not a normal business practice to only make some of the terms and conditions available then require a person to agree to all of the terms and conditions.

4. All entrants, whether winners or not, are granting Speedo use of their work for ever, the Bill of Rights requires a time limit on usage to be set.

5. All entrants are granting the sponsor usage beyond that needed to promote the contest, works submitted will be used for other purposes. The Bill of Rights requires usage to be restricted to promoting the contest, and no other purpose.

The reader is referred to the Bill of Rights for more detail regarding the above issues.

We also find the  terms of this competition to be in opposition to the aims of Pentland's Corporate Responsibility philosophy, a philosophy which emphasises their respect for people and their rights. Regrettably, the terms and conditions approved by Pentland/Speedo for this contest remove from all of the students who enter it all of their intellectual property rights in respect of all of the works they submit.

SPONSORS

None listed

CONTACT 

To complain to the organiser use this email address This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and mark it for the attention of the Chairman of Pentland, Stephen Rubin.

Pro-Imaging have notified this organisation about the publishing of this report.

You can help the Bill of Rights campaign by complaining to the organiser urging them to change their terms and conditions.  If time is at a premium for you we have prepared a complaint email which you can copy and send to the organiser.

The Bill of Rights campaign depends on your active support, your help will make a difference.

Updated on 8 May 2010

The Bill of Rights Standards for Photography Competitions

Competitions which meet all the standards set out in the Bill of Rights do not do any of the following -

© Bill of Rights Supporters Group

The above text may be reproduced providing a link is given to the Bill of Rights For Photography Competitions.

Any text reproduced above in italics has been extracted from a competition website for the purposes of review.

Organisations who would like to be promoted as a Bill of Rights Supporter and have their competitions promoted on the Rights On List can use this contact form. One of the campaign team will get in touch with you.