High Court Rules Against German World Cup Trademarks
April 28, 2006
The Karlsruhe-based court rejected the world soccer body's attempts to secure a patent on the German-language slogan "Fussball WM 2006" (Soccer World Cup 2006).
The court based its decision on the fact that "Fussball WM 2006" was a generic phrase that referred to a sports event and not to a body such as FIFA and called on lower patent courts to make case-by-case decisions on companies using just the "WM 2006" slogan on products, WM being a German abbreviation for World Cup.
The ruling applies to 860 products and services from a range of companies, although the case was brought by just two firms and could have wider implications.
In theory, the ruling also means FIFA can no longer give sponsors assurances that other companies will not advertise with the slogans.
"The federal court pronounced judgment provision," said Regina Hock, a German judge told the sid sports news agency. "The appeals courts will clear up how it looks in each individual case."
Too late to make the candies
A legal representative for one of the complainants, German confectionary maker Ferrero, said the decision had come too late for his client.
A Ferrero official said that FIFA's argument that the term "World Cup" belongs exclusively to FIFA would be comparable to the Vatican trying to patent the terms "Easter" or "Christmas."
Products and advertising to tie in with the finals, which run from June 9 to July 9, have already been finalized, said Ferrero lawyer Goetz Jordan.
Lawyers for FIFA had argued that the body was solely funded by marketing revenue.
FIFA: Trademarks essential to World Cup financing
FIFA Secretary General Urs Linsi said many of the organization's 205 affiliated national soccer federations were financially supported by marketing revenue.
"Safeguarding the exclusive rights of our partners is an essential requirement for this, the world's largest privately financed sports event, which generates costs of more than 600 million euros ($753 million) for FIFA alone," said Linsi.
"Companies that seek to profit from the FIFA World Cup without making a contribution jeopardize the financing of the event through commercial partnerships.
"Protecting our trademarks is therefore of fundamental importance to developing soccer as a whole. Today's decision does not augur well for the growth of our sport or for organizers of major sports events."