Use of FIFA World Cup Logos and Trademarks
With the World Cup now in full swing, plenty of businesses are cashing in on the month long tournament.
Everywhere you look there are thousands of references to The World Cup, from shop windows to press and radio ads, to websites. Amongst all of the marketing campaigns from the official sponsorship partners that have paid FIFA handsomely for the privilege are the unofficial campaigns from businesses that that are leaving themselves open to legal action.
Of course there are isolated ambush marketing cases where perpetrators knowingly plan maximum publicity, but there are a surprising number of (mainly smaller, local) advertisers and their agents who are oblivious to the fact they are using trademarked phrases in their campaigns, whether broadcast, in print or on the web.
Here are the trademarked phrases registered by FIFA:
- FIFA World Cup South Africa
- FIFA World Cup
- FIFA World Cup
- World Cup
- 2010 World Cup
- World Cup 2010
- South Africa 2010
- 2010 South Africa
- Football world Cup
- Soccer World Cup
- and any similar derivations
Google Alerts make it easy for organisations such as FIFA to spot unofficial use of their trademarked words and images on websites and if a fine is imposed it can be quite steep.
We have worked on football ‘flavoured’ campaigns in the run up to the tournament and found lots of helpful guidance on sponsorship on the official FIFA website to ensure our client’s campaigns are compliant. We have been able to create press ads, website campaigns, radio commercials and Point Of Sale materials that are within FIFA’s guidelines.
For example general football terms, such as ‘Summer of football’ and using the England Flag instead of the FIFA logo are fine. There are lots of national retailers taking this approach, and we are advising our clients and other businesses in our market, Chester to play safe and do the same.
