In the world of football, fair play is a principle that has an important role to play both on and off the pitch. The beautiful game's incredible success story, particularly in terms of the FIFA World Cup™, not only attracts fans and official partners, but also the ambush marketing activities of companies seeking to secure themselves a slice of the rewards illicitly without offering any financial support in return. This jeopardises the viability of FIFA events which are crucial to the development of global football.
Rights Protection Programme
As a result, FIFA has in recent years developed a comprehensive global rights protection programme, centred upon the registration of all official FIFA marks including the Official Emblem, the Official Mascot and the FIFA World Cup Trophy. FIFA's Rights Protection Programme is founded on national and international mark protection laws and anti-trust laws. The trademarks registered by FIFA bear the™ insignia to make it easier for users around the globe to recognise that these marks are protected.
The need to protect the rights of FIFA and its Commercial Affiliates has also been recognised by the national bodies associated with FIFA events. Governments and national authorities have become very sensitive to the problem of rights infringement, and public awareness is also increasing.
The Rights Protection Programme is thus implemented in close collaboration with various authorities - within the host nation and elsewhere - including police forces, customs authorities, patent offices and public prosecutors.
The objectives of the Rights Protection Programme are:
- to protect and enforce FIFA’s commercial and marketing rights
- to avoid event piracy activities such as intellectual property infringements and ambush marketing
- to ensure that association with FIFA and FIFA Events is reserved for FIFA Commercial Affiliates
