Intellectual property rights (patents, industrial designs, trademarks, copyrights, etc.) are usually associated with industry, as a rule, with the manufacturing industry. IP rights grant exclusivity to the IP owner for a limited period of time. But sports event organizers use IP laws to take advantage of interest in particular sports.
Sports began as a hobby or pastime, so that participants could enjoy sports or as a form of exercise. Now some games have become gigantic international events or more suitable international companies with their own “individual” law. Such international events even challenge the sovereign laws of countries.
Popular games such as football, golf, tennis, basketball, cricket, yachting, car racing, etc., have become international events with a huge follow-up, creating a huge marketing potential for organizers. Organizers of popular games such as FIFA (football), PGA (golf), NBA (basketball), etc. Organize and manage events, usually international competitions, in such a way as to maximize the return from others who want to use the marketing potential offered by events.
The organizers first create distinctive logo, emblem or phrase (s) to identify the event. If the logos or emblems are original, they will also be protected as copyrighted works.
As an example, the emblem of the World Cup 2010 is protected as a trademark and as an artwork in accordance with copyright laws. Terms such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the FIFA World Cup 2010, the 2010 World Cup, the FIFA World Cup and its equivalent are also protected against unauthorized use and applicable laws apply in different jurisdictions.
Since the logo / emblem / phrases (“event identifiers”) are strongly promoted on the main carrier, they are easily and quickly linked to the event by the public and, thus, acquire a strong trademark. Then the event organizers begin to use the value of the trademark for other enterprises.
Let's look at the various revenue streams for the organizers. The first line of income is the sponsorship fee. This includes the right to display the sponsor’s name in the gaming / stadium, the right to use event identifiers for articles issued by the sponsors, or the right to use an event identifier in connection with the service (eg, banking, credit card (VISA), business process outsourcing (Mahindra Satyam)) or accommodation rights (for example, a certain brand of luxury watches next to golf boxes on golf courses).
The second line of revenue is the collection of the gate. Even here you can order ticket printing - a ticket with the trademark of the sponsoring party.
The third source of income is an exclusive supply of products for games such as footballs, tennis balls, shuttlecocks (badminton), fuel and lubricants (auto racing), etc. The articles provider has the right to describe himself as an "official supplier" to promote his articles and advertise yourself as the exclusive provider of such articles. Strangely enough, although Adidas was a top-level sponsor / partner in the 2010 World Cup, it was Nike that attracted more viewers attention, be it the players soccer shoes or clever commercials. Is this a case of a bad adidas sponsorship strategy?
The fourth source of income and more and more the most profitable source of income is the exclusive right to record and broadcast the event on television and radio and, possibly, via the Internet in the near future. Broadcast rights are granted to regional and national broadcast networks. All copyrights for recording and broadcasting of games are retained by the organizers or licensed to certain individuals.
Finally, the organizers also grant exclusive rights to manufacturers to produce and sell goods of talismans or products with an event identifier in exchange for payment of a fee.
The organizers have a large income stream, namely:
1. Sponsorship fees
2. Collect the gate
3. Exclusive rights to use the product in case
4. Rights to broadcast
5. Rights to merchandising
In addition to the organizers of the event, other manufacturers and service providers get an advantage by sponsoring sports clothing and gaming equipment of certain teams or players. Just think about the player’s T-shirt brand, shorts, cap, gloves, shoes, socks, etc. In South Africa, the shoes of a non-sponsored brand that players wore stood out as noticeably (if not more) than those from one of the official sponsors. . In the case of racing cars, have you ever seen overalls with regular drivers? On the contrary, the general characteristics of the driver, including the emergency helmet, are often plastered with an assortment of trademarks.
Even the drinks / drinks consumed by the player during the game are sponsored, with the full advertising value used. Here, a trademark advertisement is not a product advertisement, like what appears in a television advertisement, but a trademark or product is inherently associated with a successful player. What other convincing message can be created if not for a world-class player using the advertiser's product?
In addition to organizers who receive incomes, as indicated above, players, especially the best players in games, often support sports and even non-sports goods, services or enterprises. For example, Tiger Woods not only supports golf clubs, balls, t-shirts, caps, etc., but also supports watches, consulting services and personal care products (Note: he was later removed from the last two after his violations); Maria Sharapova, one of the leading women tennis players, supports shoes and clothing, cameras and watches, among others; and football player Ronaldinho has endorsement contracts with Pepsi, Nike and Sony.
In order to maximize profits from revenue streams, organizers of major game events, such as FIFA, must strictly enforce their trademark rights and act against those who join their trademark without the organizer's consent. If the organizers do not take strict measures against violators, it is unlikely that they will give high sponsorship rates for future events, not to mention a possible violation of the sponsorship contract.
Unfortunately, IP laws have not been developed for such periodic international events. Many manufacturers or service providers would like to be associated with such outstanding international events that attract viewers from TV to billions, but either they don’t have such an opportunity or they cannot afford to pay for expenses and expenses. Therefore, they are trying to link their product / service with the event without the consent of the event organizer. It is here that the “landing marketing” comes into play. The event organizers have a field day that takes action against such marketers. But it is not clear whether a particular event or advertisement is an art of ambush in accordance with ordinary IP laws. To avoid this, countries, especially host countries, often require specific laws to combat the sale of an ambush before they are given the opportunity to participate in this event. Britain was supposed to host the London Olympics and the 2006 Paralympic Games before the 2012 London Olympics. The trademark "London 2012" is protected.
The following question arises: how and in what way the income received from this event, for example, for the 2010 World Cup. Who benefits from income? This will be the subject of another article for one more day.
Note. Trademarks and designs specified in the article belong to their respective owners. The author does not claim any ownership right; they are used for educational purposes only.
