or 
Umbro: The Problem with Football | 
Okay, so maybe the title is a bit over the top, but Umbro’s actions last week reminded me of what is wrong with the modern game. If you didn’t see it last week, Premiership Talk leaked promotional images of the new England kit before it was even released. When a source provided us with the image, we were the first site that brought you the exclusive images – much to Umbro’s chagrin. The makers of the England kit were not happy that the images surfaced before the shirt was even released, and Premiership Talk was promptly made aware of a takedown notice issued by Umbro.
So what exactly happened? Early on Friday I woke up to a scathing email from Umbro, directed straight to the hosts of Premiership Talk’s servers. Without even contacting me first, Umbro had sent Bluehost a letter insisting that the image violates copyright laws as stated in the DMCA and that the article and the image should be taken down immediately. While I did comply with their takedown request, it wasn’t because the image was illegal. It was merely because it wasn’t worth the fight. Umbro’s request, though, was over the line and revealed many of the problems with the modern game.
Who says that Premiership Talk wasn’t allowed to display the image of the new kit last Friday? While Umbro demanded we take it down last week before the kit’s release, already the image is back up in the various ads that have been provided to us by Kitbag (in our Premiership Talk Shop deal with them). There is something called a “fair use” law, which certainly applies to this case. The early images of the kit showed fans what to expect (especially when Umbro was really pushing hard for pre-orders of a kit that no one has seen. Who wants to buy something they haven’t seen?) and no one was profiting from the images. It was merely to inform you – the fans – and let you make a decision. Umbro, however, had other plans.
Now that the kit is released, magically Umbro’s copyright claims have gone away. Now that they want to make money from sales of the shirt, it’s anyone’s game to promote the image and use it at will. What changed so dramatically? I’m not sure, but I’m guessing it ruffled a few feathers at Umbro that we “spoiled” their launch party.
At the end of the day, we can chalk this one up to Umbro being the bad guys who were acting like the KGB when it came to controlling pictures on the internet. It’s just funny how a few days changed Umbro’s attitude about the situation. While PT does have our own shop, I find myself struggling to even tell people to buy the new England kit. The men who stand behind it represent the evil forces in football that are out to solely make a profit. They don’t care about the fans, they don’t care about English football, and they certainly don’t care about being fair.
What really annoyed me about the situation was that Umbro resorted straight to legal matters. Instead of just shooting me an email politely asking me to remove the image, they flaunted the fact that they have a “head of brand protection” and sent Bluehost an email. Keep in mind, I’m no professional writer, and Premiership Talk is no national newspaper. This is a fans’ site, written by the fans for the fans. So was Umbro in tune with the fans here? Nope. They went straight to another massive corporation in trying to take down the fans. Thanks for staying in tune with us, Umbro.
Second, Umbro really dropped the ball when it came to their reasoning. As mentioned above, under fair use Premiership Talk has the right to display the image. Especially as official affiliates with Kitbag, how else are we supposed to promote the kit other than displaying an image? Simple answer: we’re not. Obviously we’re going to use images of the new kit to promote it, and we were simply showing the fans what it would look like. Bad us, huh? Umbro sure thinks so.
With the weekend a bit boring already because of the international break, this whole Umbro incident left me feeling a bit down about football in general. It felt like Big Brother himself had sent me an email, trying to control my every move. While Umbro’s influence on football is quite minimal these days (let’s face it – do any big clubs go anywhere near Umbro anymore? They’re a spent force, in all honesty), they still represent all that is evil in football. Large corporations have gone out of touch with the common fans, and instead of using the fans to promote new things, they instead try to take the fans down. Do they not realize that using fans’ sites is a great free way of promoting new stuff through a trusted avenue? Apparently not.
These are my open feelings about the whole Umbro situation. They flexed their muscles in the face of a much smaller fans’ website in order to “protect their own brand” when in fact football fans banded together to discuss Umbro’s latest creation. Instead of contacting the site, they circumvented the process and right away attempted to get the content taken down. Now, they expect me to use the same exact image that they reported me for to get them sales. Don’t count on me doing that.
If you want to buy some good old Nike jerseys, Adidas kits, or Puma shoes, head on over to the Premiership Talk Shop. It’s in association with Kitbag, so we’ve got all the official gear. As for Umbro – don’t waste your money. The kit’s not even that nice, in my opinion.
If you want to read Umbro’s letter to Bluehost in all of its glory, read on:
ISP Takedown Notice
Dear BlueHost.ComWe are providing you this letter of notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 17 USC§512(c) to make BlueHost.Com aware of material on its network or system that infringes the exclusive copyright rights of Umbro International Ltd (“Company”). This notice is addressed to you as the agent designated by BlueHost.Com to receive notifications of claimed infringement, as so reflected in the current records of the U.S. Copyright Office. Under penalty of perjury, we hereby affirm that the undersigned is authorized to act on behalf of Company whose exclusive copyright rights we believe to be infringed as described herein.
We have a good faith belief that the Internet site found at the following http://www.premiershiptalk.com/2009/03/24/new-england-kit-leaked/
and
http://www.premiershiptalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/englandmain_762711a.jpginfringes the rights of the Company.
The Company represents that it has not authorized your customer to use the Infringing Material. Based upon information at its disposal at 08.03 on 27th March 2009, we believe that the statements in this notice are accurate and correctly describe the infringing nature and status of the Infringing Material.
Accordingly, we hereby demand that BlueHost.Com immediately remove or disable access to the Infringing Material at the link identified above. As you may know, if this information is not removed after notice that complies with the DMCA, the Internet Service Provider may also be held liable for the copyright infringement
Should you have questions, please contact Mark Rowley at +## (#)### ### #### or by replying to this email.SINCERELY,
Mark Rowley
Head of Brand Protection Nike Affiliates & Umbro Corporate Security
You’ve read about the issue. Now have your say! Leave a comment below.
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I’ve also incurred the wrath of Mr Rowley. I felt their response so heavy handed and disproportionate that I decided to create a website (www.sayno2umbro.com).
Umbro really are a “big brother” brand, theyve even resorted to getting Ebay sellers banned for daring to list their “associated” clubs badges !! Pathetic.
They most likely are within their rights however, Mr. Rowley does show what is wrong with big business today. They no longer have any feel or are able to see past one thing, MONEY. Yes, we are all in business to make it but, a little goodwill and some basic communication skills will go a long way and help rebuild some of the things that have been lost by these companies as the grew to what they THINK they are today. Don’t give up on the sport guys, it great fun reading your articles as you write them.
Yeah!!! Down with those capitalist Pigs!
I think it highlights a general problem with multi-national corporations more than it does Umbro specifically. I mean, are you telling me that had it not been Nike or Adidas, they wouldn’t have done the same thing? I bet they would.
Haha, my apologies to Fabio. I liked the picture because Fabio is not impressed with Umbro being in the background.
Hahaha I just feel bad for Fabio Capello as his picture is associated with an article that has nothing to do with him. Otherwise, I agree that Umbro is a spent force!
That’s the thing, though. What kind of copyright law says on Friday it’s not okay to show an image, but on Monday I’m supposed to promote that very same image? It’s not within their rights to ask me to take it down.
Well, they may not have the best marketing or PR, but they are within their rights to feel aggrieved that their launch was “spoiled” and ask you to take it down. But yes, maybe they could have been nicer.