AMBUSH MARKETING


UP FOR THE CUP: AMBUSH MARKETING IN BRAZIL


With the FIFA World Cup in Brazil approaching fast, the balance between the rights of sponsors and the free market is delicate, says Robert Daniel-Shores.


Aſt er hosting the FIFA 2013 Confederations Cup this year, Brazil is now fi nalising preparations to host one of the world’s biggest sporting events, the FIFA 2014 World Cup. Expecting well over three billion viewers, event organisers and their offi cial sponsors are increasingly concerned with attempts to draw the public’s attention towards any unoffi cial trademarks. T e Brazilian World Cup Law—Law No. 12.663—has introduced strict rules in order to protect rights holders from any unlawful marketing strategies, including ambush marketing.


As most readers will know, ambush marketing is “a practice whereby a person, oſt en a competitor,


intrudes upon public attention surrounding an event thereby defl ecting attention towards itself and away from a sponsor”. In other words, a non-sponsor seeks to associate its image with the goodwill of an event, without paying sponsorship fees. Over the years, marketers have proved to be extremely creative, exploiting the thin line between what is legal and illegal, and have consequently pushed organisers to the edge in order to protect their rights.


Based on the fact that more than 90 percent of the event’s revenue is directly related to advertising and the sale of sponsoring slots, event organisers were assured extensive protection over their


92 World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2013


rights during the World Cup in Brazil, which are based on IP and competition law rights and provisions. T is is because allowing non- sponsors to ambush public attention through marketing strategies reduces the value of sponsorship and, consequently, reduces income, which puts the event at risk.


However, although the Brazilian World Cup Law aimed to empower event organisers to liquidate any possibility of undue association, its large scope of protection created a grey area when it established a broad defi nition of ambush marketing practices, which were also deemed as crimes, as seen below:


• Article 32: To promote trademarks, products or services aiming at obtaining economic advantages by means of direct or indirect association with the Events or the Offi cial Symbols, not authorized by FIFA or a person indicated by the same, leading third parties to believe that such products or services are approved, authorized or endorsed by FIFA. Penalty: detention from three months to one year or a fi ne.


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