At the beginning of May 2024, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared May 25 as the World Football Day. This date was chosen to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first football competition at the 1924 Olympics held in Paris, France. The UN hopes this day will always be celebrated as a day of world unity, which can unite cultural differences and socio-economic barriers.
As the most widely played sport, Football also involves a lot of Intellectual Property, with a turnover of up to trillions of dollars. This includes Trademarks, Patents, Industrial Designs, Copyrights, Trade Secrets, Domain Names, and License Agreements. Below, we describe some of the Intellectual Property we most often encounter in Football.
Trademark
Every competition and tournament certainly has a name. We know the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League, English Premier League (EPL), and Asian Football Confederation (AFC). These names are synonymous with quality and entertaining games. Most importantly, they are all registered Trademarks that unauthorized parties cannot use arbitrarily. You cannot just produce and sell t-shirts with the UEFA Champions League logo without permission from the Union des Associations Européennes de Football.
Trademarks in football are not only related to competition; several names of top players have also been registered as Trademarks. For example, “CR7” belongs to Cristiano Ronaldo, “Leo Messi” belongs to Lionel Messi, and even Mbappe’s celebration pose.
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Patent
An innovation that cannot be separated from modern football is the Video Assistant Referee (VAR). With this technology, referee decisions on the field can be more accurate, not controversial. VAR, whose patent is owned by Hawk-Eye Innovations (part of Sony), was first used at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. With VAR, the referee can quickly check whether a goal is legal, a player is caught offside, or cameras from many sides cover other violations.
As a Patent, FIFA pays royalties to Hawk-Eye Innovations for its use. Hawk-Eye also maximizes its income by marketing this technology to 90 countries worldwide. However, with a cost per season of around USD 6.2 million, not all leagues worldwide can afford to use it.
The Patent for football also includes the ball itself. In almost every World Cup event, the ball is presented with more sophisticated technology than before, which is expected to increase the accuracy of the players’ shots.
Industrial Design
Like the ball in football, the shoes players use may contain patent-protected innovations. But if not, the shoes and all the clothes we see are registered as Industrial Design.
Football jerseys or costumes are one of a football club or team’s biggest sources of income. For diehard fans, wearing a jersey when watching a match or even going to the mall is a matter of pride and proof of their support for their favorite team.
However, jerseys are also among the Intellectual Property most often pirated. As true fans, of course, we can choose to only buy the original because only then is the money we spend commensurate with the quality we get, and most importantly, the income will go to the club we support.
Copyright
League and match materials, images, promotions, or other content related to football broadcasts fall into the Copyright category. Each match is owned by a different owner, who also sells broadcast rights to TV stations in each region.
These Copyright holders even opened a bidding scheme to give the highest buyers the opportunity to obtain the Broadcasting Rights. Because it costs a lot of money to get the rights, it is understandable that the Broadcasting Rights holders are very protective of the material they own. They don’t let other parties broadcast it in the regions they already cover, or prosecution will be carried out.
Trade Secret
Playing strategies, including technical details of formations and other confidential information, can be categorized as Trade Secrets. These secrets give each team a competitive advantage by not revealing certain important information to the public or rival teams. All team members, including the technical and health trainers, are bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).
Domain Name
The Domain Name associated with each league and competition is very important in maintaining its online presence and marketing. Fifa.com, uefa.com, and the-afc.com have been registered to prevent cybersquatting and Trademark misuse. The fifa.com domain, for example, is available in various languages to make it easier to access and search for the latest information and to disseminate official information to all media and football fans throughout the world.
License Agreement
Licensing Agreements may include Trademark Licenses to produce and sell merchandise, mobile phone applications, video games, and more. Game developers who want to present a team with the appropriate club name or accurate appearance of the players have to pay significant royalties to FIFA.
Finally, in organizing football, we must be aware of and involve all related Intellectual Properties (IPs). In fact, IP is the financial generator in every activity. Therefore, don’t forget to involve IPs in every tournament you run and reap the benefits.
Should you need further information regarding Licensing Agreements, Trademark registration, Patents, Industrial Designs, Copyrights, or other Intellectual Property, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
