PROTECTING SPORTS EVENTS NAMES AND LOGOS

Intellectual Property, especially trademarks, play an important role in protecting the names and logos of major international sporting events, such as the UEFA European Football Championships (the Euros), the Wimbledon Championships, the Tour de France and the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In particular, trademark rights provide the basis for sponsorship, endorsement and merchandising agreements, which, in turn, provide lucrative sources of income for the organisers of these events. In fact, without the income from international companies wishing to associate their products and services with these international sporting events, it is fair to say that many of them could not be organised and staged.

Having trademark protection of these events also discourages so-called ‘ambush marketing’ of them by unauthorised third parties, claiming an association with them to which they are not entitled and for which they have not paid anything at all. See the earlier post on ‘Combatting Ambush Marketing in Switzerland’ in the NEWS section of this website. This is particularly relevant to the forthcoming Women’s Euro 2025 Tournament that takes place in Switzerland in July.

UEFA sought legal protection, in 2012, of the marks associated with EURO 2024, which was held in Germany, by registering the following trademarks:

• EURO 2024
• EURO 2024 GERMANY
• UEFA EURO 2024

These registrations were followed by filings for stylised/device marks reflecting the branding that UEFA used across the event.

For example, in 2019, UEFA registered the blue EURO2024 logo and the pink and blue logo, both shown below:

Again, take the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, for example, the organisers of this prestigious event, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, have always been proactive in their trademark strategy, by registering many trademarks for relevant word and logo marks.

However, the Club only secured trademark protection for its historic and distinctive colour mark in 2016, more than a century after it first started using that colour mark in 1909. Prior to that, the lack of such legal protection had prevented the Club from taking action against unauthorised use by third parties of its signature colours on ticket resale platforms, which were attempting to pass themselves off as being connected with the official Wimbledon Tournament, when this was not, in fact, the case.

To secure protection of a colour mark is notoriously difficult and the Club had to go to great lengths to obtain a registration for the green and purple colour way as shown below:

 

This included providing evidence of use in the form of a detailed survey, showing that consumers associated these colours with the Wimbledon Tournament and a substantial amount of pictorial evidence, dating back to the early 1900s, showing use of the green and purple colourway. Initially unsuccessful, the Club finally, on 24 June 2016, was able to satisfy the UK Intellectual Property Office that the distinctive character of its dark green and purple colourway had been established through its continuous use.

Another example of the importance of protecting the marks of sports events names and logos is provided by the Tour de France and the recent case of Société du Tour de France v. EUIPO – FitX (TOUR DE X) (Case T-604/22).

In that case, the Société, which owns the Tour de France trademarks, relied upon its European Trademark (EUTM) rights, namely, ‘Tour de France’ and ‘Le Tour de France’, to oppose an application by the German gym chain, FitX, to register the figurative mark ‘Tour de X’ at the European IP Office (EUIPO), claiming the likelihood of confusion. The Société argued not only that consumers would confuse the German brand’s products with its famous multi-stage cycle race and, consequently, associate the two, but also that there was a risk that its use would damage – or benefit from – the reputation of the prestigious cycling event.

However, the European Union General Court disagreed, the judges concluding that:

“The public will not confuse the marks despite the identity or similarity of the goods and services.”

In addition, the Court held that the enhanced distinctiveness, acquired through use and the reputation of the earlier rights ‘Tour de France’ and ‘Le Tour de France’, did not extend to the element common to the rights in issue, namely, the element ‘Tour de’.

The Court also confirmed that ‘Tour de France’ is certainly a unique enough phrase to be deserving of trademark protection in the sports and apparel markets, but ‘Tour de’ on its own was not.

Finally, to the Olympics and Paralympics and the importance of trademarks, in particular, in the fight against the pernicious practice of ‘ambush marketing’.

On 19 July 2024, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) took legal proceedings in Colorado against Prime Hydration, the drinks company owned by YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI, claiming infringement of its trademarks resulting from Prime using the phrases ‘Olympic’, ‘Olympian’, ‘Team USA’ and ‘Going for Gold’ on its latest packaging and promotional materials, which also featured Kevin Duran, the US athlete and Olympic basketball team member.

In particular, the USOPC lawsuit stated as follows:

“Prime used the goodwill associated with USOPC’s intellectual property to sell and promote its products and its brand. This solicitation is evidenced by the defendant’s blatant use of USOPC’s intellectual property online and use of USOPC’s intellectual property on actual product.”

We advise on Intellectual Property matters in relation to sport, including disputes, and further information may be obtained by emailing either Dr Lucien Valloni, our Managing Partner, or Professor Dr Ian Blackshaw, our International Sports Law Consultant, who is the author of the Book on ‘Sports Marketing Agreements: Legal, Fiscal and Practical Aspects’, at ‘valloni@valloni.ch’ and ‘blackshaw@valloni.ch’ respectively.