World Cup 2022 And Its IP Issues

• Published date: 11 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Trademark, Advertising, Marketing & Branding, Social Media
• Law Firm: HGF Ltd
• Author: Claire Jones

The countdown is on to the FIFA World Cup 2022, being held in Qatar, with the hosts taking on Ecuador in the opening game on 20 November.

The FIFA World Cup is the world's largest single sporting event. Even with the controversy surrounding the decision for the tournament to be held in Qatar, FIFA has projected that audience numbers will be in the region of 5 billion viewers. For context, the previous 2018 World Cup in Russia was watched by a combined 3.57 billion viewers, over half the world's population aged four and above. With less than 100 days to go, a total of 2.45 million tickets had been sold for the stadium events.

Against this background, we consider some of the IP issues raised by such a tournament.

FIFA'S IP manual

As with previous tournaments, FIFA has a dedicated section on its website profiling its rights, including registered and unregistered trade marks, designs and copyrights. The Brand Protection portal includes a number of key documents and details of what is and is not deemed acceptable regarding the use of names and images associated with the tournament.

There are a number of FIFA sponsor partners, including Adidas, Coca-Cola, Wanda, KIA, Qatar Airways, Qatar Energy and VISA.

These companies have invested significantly in order to gain the exposure and goodwill that is associated with such a major sporting event and, in return, will expect certain levels of protection and enforcement from FIFA. FIFA includes a number of terms/conditions and guidelines to protect the investment and exclusive rights granted to their partners and other licensees of the tournament, which include (amongst others) monitoring and action plans on counterfeit merchandise, ambush marketing campaigns and social media activity. The rights are actively enforced to prevent misuse and stop the prestige and value of such a partnership being diluted.

IP assets

Key assets for the tournament include the QATAR 2022 name, the World Cup trophy, official emblems and event mascots. As with previous host nations for events such as the Olympic Games and rugby World Cup tournaments, Qatar has passed bespoke legislation to regulate and govern the intellectual property rights of FIFA and its commercial partners. The law recognises FIFA's world cup trade marks as well-known and protected in Qatar regardless of whether they are registered there.

Aside from trade marks, design and copyright may subsist in a number of works such as the slogans, logos, kits and broadcasts in various...