The IPKat is puzzled by a story on southafrica.info. It reports that the SA Natio
nal Editors Forum (Sanef) is objecting to the registration of FIFA 2010 as a trade mark as unconstitutional. South Africa is the venue of the 2010 World Cup, and the members of Sanef appear to be afraid that the registration will prevent them from being able to report on the event. They point out that media exposure is vital to the success of the tournament, saying:
The IPKat is rather confused. Generally descriptive use is not caught by trade mark infringement, and even if it is, descriptive uses are usually covered by a defence. Has South Africa really gone so far as to impose an absolute ban on the use of names associated with the 2010 World Cup? Perhaps a South African reader can enlighten him.
(For the avoidance of emails from offended readers W**** C** is meant to mean World Cup, and nothing more sinister) .
nal Editors Forum (Sanef) is objecting to the registration of FIFA 2010 as a trade mark as unconstitutional. South Africa is the venue of the 2010 World Cup, and the members of Sanef appear to be afraid that the registration will prevent them from being able to report on the event. They point out that media exposure is vital to the success of the tournament, saying: "In other words the media claims that it has provided, and continues to provide, a major boost to the commercial value FIFA derives from its trademarks and therefore no attempt should be made to penalise it."Consequently, Sanef is seeking a blanket exemption from liability for the media.
The IPKat is rather confused. Generally descriptive use is not caught by trade mark infringement, and even if it is, descriptive uses are usually covered by a defence. Has South Africa really gone so far as to impose an absolute ban on the use of names associated with the 2010 World Cup? Perhaps a South African reader can enlighten him.
(For the avoidance of emails from offended readers W**** C** is meant to mean World Cup, and nothing more sinister) .
Can you say W**** C** in South Africa?
![Can you say W**** C** in South Africa?]()
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Thursday, August 02, 2007
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Perhaps SANEF is concerned that FIFA has learned a few tricks from its colleagues in the USA. The "National Football League" routinely behaves as if nobody but the NFL and its authorized corporate sponsors have the right to use the term SUPER BOWL to refer to the annual championship game ... single-handedly trying to eliminate the notion of nominative fair use of trademarks.
ReplyDeleteThe Fifa trade mark request includes the following words:
ReplyDelete2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
World Cup 2010
RSA 2010
Football World Cup
FIFA World Cup
South Africa 2010
SA 2010
2010 FIFA World Cup
Africa 2010
Soccer World Cup
World Cup
South Africa World Cup
2010
All names of all SA venue cities with the figure 2010 behind them
Twenty Ten
World Cup South Africa
Confederations Cup
Win in Africa for Africa
Football for a Better World
Sanef might be better off reading what FIFA actually says in their Public Information Sheet (PDF), pages 25 and 26 in particular.
ReplyDelete