NEW DELHI: The International Cricket Council, the game's governing body, will haul into court companies and suspend players associated with unofficial endorsements during the upcoming World Cup as part of a range of measures launched to protect the interests of the event's sponsors.
"Taking action against perpetrators is not fun for us. We will have no option but go to court to protect our rights and those of our commercial partners," says ICC legal head David Becker.
The ICC has formed a 100 strong anti-infringement team to track those using directly or deceptively the name, logo and mascot of the event, due to start on February 19.
This includes legal teams stationed in three host countries: India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, apart from personnel dedicated to checking counterfeiting as well as online and mobile piracy. The ICC has also engaged Bangalore-based intellectual property rights firm Copyright Integrity International to monitor such instances.
In the case of cricketers, the ICC has published a guidance note listing the 'dos' and 'don'ts' on endorsements. For example, players are permitted to appear in endorsements in their personal capacity wearing casual clothes or cricket whites. Participants can also promote Indian Premier League franchises. In both cases, they cannot appear in advertisements using the World Cup logo and trademark or refer to the event.
These measures demonstrate the lengths to which the ICC has gone to shield sponsors of the World Cup from so-called ambush marketing. Pepsico , LG Electronics, Hero Honda Motors and Reliance Communications - the four main sponsors - along with Castrol, Reebok India, Emirates, Yahoo and Moneygram have collectively spent around 1,200 crore on sponsorship rights and advertising.
Sponsors have been allowed to use every facet of the tournament, be it the logo, mascot or a part of stadiums and field, to promote their merchandise. The spot near a bowler's run-up mark, for instance, will be split among the four principal sponsors.
Becker says action against ambush marketing is necessary to protect the exclusivity of official partners that have paid millions of dollars. "Without the revenues from our partners, there would be no World Cup. It is as simple as that," he says.
The ICC says it has taken care to inform the public and corporates on ambush marketing. The body has published notices in the media, issued guidelines and sent cautionary notices. It will resort to legal measures only after warning the culprits.
Despite these efforts, ICC says it has encountered hundreds of cases of ambush marketing in the past two months. Offences range from using the ICC and event logo and trademark on billboards, on the internet, in mobile phone applications, in computer games, on merchandise and in the print media.
Still, ad experts say they foresee few instances of ambush marketing in the stadiums or during the event because of the number of cricket tournaments in recent years, more so with the IPL to follow the World Cup. Santosh Desai, CEO of Future Brands, says it is not worth the trouble. But he presages marketing controversies in the case of cricketers. "Leakages happen in the case of players with multiple endorsements," he says.
For ICC, it will be tricky to ensure players stick by the rulebook on endorsements because it could be up against some of the game's biggest names, including icons.
ICC says players are bound by restrictions on commercial activity in the so-called Squad Terms to participate in the tournament. All cricket boards and Fica, the international player association, agreed to these terms in 2007, it said in the guidance note that clarifies endorsement permits. Violators will face sanctions ranging from fines to a tournament ban.
Becker says the note was issued after players and agents approached him. He did not name the players. "If you had to guess who they are, you would probably not be wrong," he says.
Indian cricketers have signed a raft of deals in the run-up to the event. Sachin Tendulkar entered into a three-year deal with beverages major Coca-Cola India in end-January. Days later, he signed endorsement contracts with Pune developer Amit Enterprises and apparel maker S Kumars Nationwide .
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's captain, is spearheading rival PepsiCo's advertising campaign. On Tuesday, Dhoni entered into a deal with Sony Corp. Likewise, Virat Kohli has signed 7 deals in the past four months. Read More >> ICC Cricket World Cup
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