World football's governing body FIFA
said it had won a legal dispute over World Cup rights with a Florida
Internet company that specialises in Latin American soccer.
FIFA said it had obtained a US District Court order barring references
to football's showcase event by the former StarMedia Network, Inc, and
its successor Cyclelogic, Inc, of Miami.
The organization said the Miami-based court ordered the company to
remove any web sites using the domain names CopaMundial.com and
CopaDoMundo.com.
"This is a major victory for FIFA in its battle against the unauthorised
use of FIFAs World Cup marks on the worldwide web," Jerome Valcke,
Director of FIFA Marketing and TV, said Tuesday.
"We will continue to aggressively protect FIFAs and the FIFA Partners
rights against the unfair commercial exploitation of FIFAs marks and any
similar ambush marketing activities in the future. This case provides a
strong legal precedent for FIFAs future enforcement efforts."
But he pointed out there was nothing in the order to prevent genuine
football fans from continuing to use FIFAs World Cup marks for their
non-commercial fan sites or media from using FIFAs marks for their
editorial news coverage. |
