News

During the last years the Fedération Internationale de Fotball Association (FIFA) has adopted measures for the protection of its distinctive signs, within which may be mentioned trademarks such as “FIFA WORLD CUP”, official mascots, emblems and others. According to this entity, “the commercial affiliates of FIFA only invest in the World Cup if they are guaranteed exclusivity in the use of the brands and in any other type of relationship with the championship.” This means that if anyone could use such distinctive signs, it would not make sense to become a commercial affiliate.

For its protection, FIFA has adopted the following measures:

1. Actions against unauthorized/illegal marketing activities: Activities that seek to create direct or indirect links with the brands of the entity, such as promotions that attempt to engage with the event carried out by entities without a sponsoring link are prohibited.
2. Actions against counterfeit products: According to the entity, counterfeit products may include balls, caps, clothing, toys and shoes. In response to the commercialization of those products, FIFA takes legal actions to stop such activities.
3. Protection of the rights of sponsors and commercial allies: Because the holders of FIFA’s rights only invest in the World Cup if they are guaranteed exclusivity, the entity grants legal certainty to investors by forcing them to act when entities without commercial links violate intellectual property rights.

Some of the legal measures for the protection of these rights, contemplated in the Guatemalan legislation, consist of civil and criminal actions, granting the power to request precautionary measures and border measures to prevent or deter the commission of infractions or crimes. In this sense, the Guatemalan Criminal Code establishes that: “without prejudice to the corresponding civil liability, it will be punished with imprisonment from one to six years and a fine of fifty thousand to seven hundred and fifty thousand quetzales…” This aforementioned constitutes a fine of 7 thousand to 100 thousand dollars approximately.

Said measures are useful to grant rights to FIFA since it works with different customs’ authorities around the world in order to detect and stop the introduction of counterfeit products and supervision of intellectual property registers. Therefore, Guatemala is not an exception to guarantee the protection of these distinctive signs, since there are different forms of protection against activities that violate intellectual property rights.

Ma. Mercedes Castro
Managing Director
García & Bodán
Guatemala