Part 1
Three issues may arise for the parties involved in this scenario that fall within the Rugby World Cup ticket terms and conditions. Bob will not have any issues regarding the purchase of the tickets as Bob purchased the tickets legally. Sadiq will not have any issues as he is attending the match with Bob and this is permitted under the terms and conditions. The relevant condition states:
If more than one Ticket is issued to a Ticket Purchaser, the Ticket Purchaser must
retain one Ticket for his/her personal use. Any remaining Tickets may only be used
the Ticket) who accompany the Ticket Purchaser to the Match
However, the tickets may not, according to terms and conditions of the tickets, be transferred. This may pose an issue with Sue’s ticket. First, under the terms and conditions, Sue must attend the match with Bob and will not be doing this as she intends to meet him at the match. Additionally, Bob is in violation of this same condition as he does not know Sue. Sue, thus, faces the risk of her ticket being cancelled or voided. Finally, Sue has an additional risk of having her ticket void, seized or canceled for purchasing the ticket from other than an official seller or the England Rugby 2015 official secondary ticket exchange according to the terms and conditions. The relevant condition states:
Any Ticket offered for sale, sold, transferred, . and any Ticket Holder seeking to use the Ticket may be refused admission to or Evictedwithout refund or compensation and may also be liable to legal action.
Bob may also face contractual issues with the sale of the ticket to Sue. If Sue does not attend the match and does not subsequently pay Bob for the ticket, Bob may wish to seek contractual damages against Sue for breach of contract. Sue will owe Bob for the ticket if a valid contract arose respecting the purchase of the ticket. In this situation, the first requirement of a contract is present. We are aware that Sue was provided with the offer to purchase the ticket as she did agree to pay Bob the money for the ticket when she arrives to the game. However, if Sue is not aware that the ticket is in her mailbox and she does not make the match, she will not owe Bob for the ticket even if Bob seeks to recover because she will have many contractual defenses such as mistake, frustration or failure to perform.
In this scenario, three issues arise concerning the transferring of the ticket by Andrew and Jim. Andrew donated his ticket to the hospice and this is in violation of the terms and conditions of the Rugby World Cup terms and conditions. The Rugby World Cup ticket terms and conditions provide that tickets may not be offered as a donation. The relevant conditions states:
any such Tickets must not be offered publicly (including on any website, social
media site or other public forum) whether for sale, as a gift or donation or any
other means of transfer and the sale, transfer or disposal of any such Tickets
must not be for a value greater than the Original Sale Price of the Ticket
The ticket that Andrew donated to the hospice was technically a donation. Donations are only permitted by the actual purchaser of the ticket under the terms and conditions. As a result of this, the ticket could possibly be void or cancelled. The other issue that may arise in this scenario is that tickets may not be given as a gift under the terms and conditions of the ticket. Since Bob, the purchaser, did not make the transfer via gift or donation, as stated, the ticket may be void or cancelled for this reason as well. Carmen provided Bob with an additional ten pounds for the ticket which would make his purchase of the ticket higher than face value which is prohibited in the terms and conditions as well. Finally, there will be an issue with Carmen attending the match without Bob, the purchaser of the tickets. The terms and conditions specifically set forth that the purchaser of a ticket must attend the event and know the person he bought the additional ticket for or he will be in violation of the terms and conditions, and once again, facing the risk of the ticket being void or cancelled.
In the scenario for the third match, Bob may have violated terms and conditions of the Rugby World Cup tickets by reselling them, by advertising the tickets for sale and by not attending the match as the original purchaser of the tickets. The fact that he sold the tickets for a lesser value would not cause Bob any issues. Bob will, however, have lost out on seeing the match and he also lost the money he spent for the tickets by not attending the match. As for the reselling, the terms and conditions of the Rugby World Cup explicitly states that tickets are not transferrable and cannot be resold. The relevant portion of the conditions states:
Tickets are STRICTLY NON-TRANSFERABLE and MUST NOT BE SOLD OR OFFERED, EXPOSED OR MADE AVAILABLE FOR SALE, OR TRANSFERRED
OR OTHERWISE DISPOSED. ER 2015 reserves the right to cancel without
refund any Tickets
So, the two buyers of the tickets on the fan website can potentially face the risk of having their tickets cancelled. Bob faces the risk of being blacklisted as well.
Advertising the tickets on the website may also have been in violation of the terms and conditions of the tickets. The terms and conditions forbid offering the sale of the tickets to the public. Bob offered his takes for sale to the public when he posted his tickets for sale online on a private member only website. This was a violation of the terms and conditions irrespective of the fact that the website was a private website. The terms and conditions are violated even if website where tickets are posted for sale is a private member only website. The resale of tickets is only authorized through official ticketing agents. Finally, in this scenario, Bob violated Section 12 of the terms and conditions by not attending the match as he was the original purchaser of the ticket. Bob could have sold these tickets on an official ticket retail scheme which is permitted under the terms and conditions. The relevant portion of the terms and conditions states:
Tickets purchased directly from ER 2015 (but not tickets purchased from or issued
via the Official Ticket Resale Scheme which will operate from early 2015..
The facts pertaining to the match attendance would not cause any issues for Bob.
Part 2:
Bob must be aware of three laws when purchasing tickets on the secondary market. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations of 2008 affects an individual who intends to sell or resell event tickets. Under these regulations, the seller is obliged to inform the buyer of information regarding “the price, location, terms, adverse factors”, and any other factors that may affect the buyer’s satisfaction of the event. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations of 2013 applies whenever a ticket is sold online. These regulations require the disclosure of certain information to the buyer including any additional fees relating to the purchase of the ticket. The Consumer Rights Act of 2015 places regulations on the secondary selling facility. These regulations will allow Bob to find out where his seats are located so that he can insure the seats are not too high. The Act does not make it illegal for Bob to purchase tickets from the online seller. Under the Act, the seller of a ticket being sold for resale online must provide the buyer with information regarding price which must be clear, precise, complete and non-misleading as well as ticket terms and descriptions. If the buyer is given a range of prices, the seller must have tickets available for the lower price, as marketing with offers for tickets at lower prices but having a limited number of tickets is illegal. When the buyer is given a price quote, the quote must include all charges for the ticket including taxes and fees. The seller must also provide the buyer with specific information about the event including the time, location and seat number. Additionally, the seller must inform the buyer of any conditions or limitations that are included with the ticket, such as obstructions of view. These above provisions pertain to both individual sellers as well as secondary ticketing facilities. Yet, when a ticket is being purchased from a seconding ticketing facility, such as Viagogo, even more information must be provided to the seller. Viagogo has made these requirements as part of its standards. Operators of secondary ticketing facilities must also make it clear if they are the actual seller of tickets listed on their site, rather than a member of the public. The risks that Bob may face if he purchases the tickets on Viagogo are limited so long as he is aware of the law mentioned above and ensures that Viagogo provides him with the required information. The laws applicable to this situation were designed to prevent the fraudulent sale of tickets online. Bob must, however, be cautious when purchasing tickets for increased amounts as many scams are present in the market. Often times, buyers were being sold tickets that were actually non-existent or fake. Bob will not have to face this risk under the new copyright law.
References
Journals
Greenfield, Osborn & Roberts, a., 2008. Contradictions Within The Criminalisation of Ticket Touting: What Should Be The Role of The Law?. Web JCLI, Volume 3.
Hebblethwaite, P., 2015. Touts suffer blow as government agrees to back regulation of secondary ticketing. The Guardian, 25 February.
MacMillan, C. & Stone, R., 2012. Elements of the law of Contract. University of London International Programmes.
Osborn, G. & James, M., 2015. Criminalising contract: does ticket touting warrant the protection of the criminal law?. Westminster Criminal Law Review.
Government Reports
Waterson, M., 2015. Review of Consumer Protection Measures relating to Online Secondary Ticketing Platforms, s.l.: Department for Culture Media & Sport.
Legislation
Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013
Consumer Rights Act of 2015
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Hebblethwaite, P. Touts suffer blow as government agrees to back regulation of secondary ticketing. The Guardian, (25 February 2015). http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/25/touts-suffer-blow-government-backs-regulation-secondary-ticketing accessed 21 December 2015.
Osborn, G. & James, M., 2015. Criminalising contract: does ticket touting warrant the protection of the criminal law?. Westminster Criminal Law Review.
Rugby World Cup 2015. Ticket T & C’s (2015) https://tickets.rugbyworldcup.com/staticpages/termsandconditions.aspx accessed 22 December 2015.
