Peru: A red card for Roja Directa

Peru: A red card for Roja Directa

Patricia Covarrubia   September 22, 2018   No comments:

In Peru, the Copyright Commission, which is branch of the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI), announces that it has issued two precautionary measures Resolutions No. 444-2018 / CDA-INDECOPI and No. 445-2018 / CDA-INDECOPI ) against a webpage.

The Commission has ordered the blocking of the website named ‘Roja Directa’, which facilitates illicit access to the transmission of various sporting events, in particular, football matches. For example,a bit of a search would indicate that they are the 'world's biggest index of sport streams'. The Resolutions were imparted to Telefónica del Perú S.A.A. and América Móvil Perú S.A.C., both Internet service providers. They shall proceed to block the website called 'Roja Directa' which contains several e-addresses. [Back in 2015 we may remember that in Spain a court also requested 'Roja Directa' to immediately cease its dissemination activity which was through the provision of links, of the football matches of the Spanish League and the Copa del Rey].

Roja Direct was infringing copyright and secondary rights as it contained a list of links that were transmitting simultaneously a sport event without having neither a license nor authorization by the company Fox Latin American Channel LLC (the right holders).The Decision No. 486 establishes the Common Industrial Property Regime of the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are all members) and, the Decreto Legislativo N° 822 de 23 de abril de 1996 regulates Copyright. In the latter, it is noted that the economic rights, derived from the property of a copyrighted work, grants the author (owner) the right to prevent third parties from: communicating to the public, reproducing, distributing and transforming the work. It is strongly advised to register copyright in Peru, although it is not compulsory.

The precautionary measure was requested by Fox Latin American Channel LLC in order to protect its rights. Currently there are collecting societies in Peru such as: APDAYC for the authors and composers of musical works; UNIMPRO for phonogram producers; EGEDA PERÚ for audio-visual producers and; APSAV for visual artists. They are non-profit organizations.

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Red card for Mexican composer: passion for football

Red card for Mexican composer: passion for football

Patricia Covarrubia   October 26, 2016   No comments:

From Mexico and Spain we read a debate about a potential case of copyright infringement.
The Mexican football club ‘Club America’ has released this month a new hymn celebrating its centennial. The song was launched during the half time of the game against Tijuana on Saturday October 15th.

The hymn created much controversy in social media since it is claimed that the hymn is similar to another football club, that is the ‘Sevilla’ from Spain (the hymn can be heard here).

laixb.com

The authorship of the alleged infringed song belongs to the Mexican group Matute, headed by Jorge D'Alessio. After the social media war, he claimed that "there is no copying or plagiarism" in the hymn while the football club separated from any responsibility. The band also noted that there was no ‘intention’. In this regards it is important to note that intention is not needed for an action of infringement since it is strict liability.

Finally, the Mexican football club released a communication stating that "although the musical work is an original work, it has caused some discomfort, therefore this song will never be used by the Club". Why this reaction? the work was commissioned and depending on the contract, they may be the owner of the song and even if the club wants to separate itself from this controversy and keep using it, they are liable (Art 231 of the Mexican Federal Law on Copyright) .

Jorge D'Alessio also published a statement: “Club America asked me to conduct, through the figure of commissioned work, the anthem of the 'centenary', not the official anthem, which I lovingly did as I am fond of the America. You should know that there is no mutilation, copy, distortion, or so-called plagiarism, nor in the letter or the music composed.” It continues “experts in the field are already making the necessary expertise in order to compare the two compositions.”

Good to know:

• The Mexican Federal Law on Copyright for the purpose of ensuring legal security of authors and owners of copyright, advice authors to register the work in the Public Copyright Register (art 162). However the same provision of law clarifies that even if literary and artistic works and neighbouring rights are not registered, the law still protect them. This goes in line with the Berne Convention which grants this right without the need of any formality.
• Practice of infringement can be for direct or indirect profit-making purposes (art 231).
• The use of language in D’Alessio’s statement i.e. ‘distorted, or mutilated’ are type of infringements covered in art 231(iv).
• The author of a work is the perpetual owner of the moral rights in works created by him (art 18).

Sources and more info here, here and here.

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Brazil is ready for the game

Brazil is ready for the game

Patricia Covarrubia   June 19, 2013   No comments:

Brazil is getting ready...all the structures are almost in place for the forthcoming World Cup and actually this year games FIFA 'Confederations Cup' . Everyone is eager to use the games to boost their own businesses' activities and of course to market their products in connection with the games. However, the companies that have already won the bet to sponsor the games are also eager to get that exclusivity --they have earned that right for which they paid.

FIFA holds the exclusive use of term such as "Mundial 2014", "Copa do Mundo", "Copa 2014" or "São Paulo 2014" . The federal government, however, has an "exclusive license" to use the terms and are taking all precautions to protect the rights of trading partners. It is reported that the number of illegal marks overtakes the one reported in South Africa, which hosted the two competitions in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

A spokesperson for FIFA noted that the Confederations Cup and the World Cup have already closed all the deals relating to marketing and the ‘the package partner’ amount to 20 businesses and has reached a value of U.S. $ 1.4 billion.

Yet, prevention is one of the policies that Brazil is also working on – according to the following:

More than 100 cases of illegal use of the marks relating to the Confederations Cup and the World Cup in Brazil have been reported in the last six months. The person in charge for the protection of FIFA trade marks, Auke-Jan Bossenbroek, said that they have managed to contact most of the illegal traders and have solved the matters in an amicable way. In the same line, but quite controversial, the the FIFA Marketing Director, Thierry Weil noted that "What annoy us are big companies, who know they are doing something wrong."

The news noted that the surrounding of the stadiums will have a restriction on traders – the places will only be available to authorized ones. On the actual game days there will be two to three FIFA people who will be reporting any illegal cases to the local security.

Certainly, preventing people creating an unauthorised association between their goods and services and the games; and preventing any other activity that undermine the sponsor revenues as for example the sale of counterfeit and unnoficial goods should form part of the success of the games.

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FIFA and its legal affairs -- beware, this is not England's bid

FIFA and its legal affairs -- beware, this is not England's bid

Patricia Covarrubia   December 09, 2010   No comments:

The Brazilian Instituto da Propriedad Intelectual (INPI) was the ‘pitch’ for the INPI’s President Jorge Avila and FIFA’s legal affairs representative, Alexia Willetts. Presented at the meeting were also: Terezinha de Jesus Guimaraes -- director of trade marks; Deyse Macedo Gomes -- general coordinator of Marks; and José Graça Aranha -- WIPO’s director of the regional office.

The meeting demonstrates the concern of the Institute to report on procedures and legal aspects that must be considered in examining applications for trade marks.

Brazilian will hold the 2014 World Cup, and according to Alexia Willetts there will be about 10 to 20 key brands, whose applications in various classes should reach approximately 500 submissions.

FIFA's concern is also with the amount of opposition that will be needed to ensure protection of their brands spread across classes, since there are actually companies that seek to take advantage of trade marks relating to the World Cup. According to national legislation, FIFA needs to bring opposition proceedings if it considers that there is conflict with its trade marks.

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Brazil 2014 World Cup Logo revealed

Brazil 2014 World Cup Logo revealed

Patricia Covarrubia   June 03, 2010   2 comments:

Brazilian newspapers and websites published a few days ago what will be the Logo of the World Cup 2014. According to those paper and sites, the logo was chosen after examining six other logos. The judges were seven people: Ricardo Teixeira (President of CBF), Jerome Valcke (Secretary of FIFA), Oscar Niemeyer (Brazilian architect), Paulo Coelho (Brazilian writer), Gisele Bundchen (Brazilian model), Hans Donner (Brazilian, head visual designer of TV Globo) and Ivete Sangalo (Brazilian pop singer).

The logo contains three hands that are carefully shaped into the cup trophy and the number 2014 can be seen from the blending. At the OHIM two figurative marks have been filed for registration (29/03/2010): one with the word “Brazil” written under the cup(Trade mark No 008989402), and another one which excludes the word (Trade mark No 008989601). The logo was registered without claiming colours. However I note that all info and pictures from the news do claim that the logo is ‘yellow and green’ as to correspond with the national flag of Brazil.

Websites are running polls and it appears that the surveys reveal that most of the readers did not like the logo – there is always going to be a dislike, I do remember the same matter when the London 2012 logo was unveiled. There is also the dispute regarding the ‘z’ instead of the familiar ‘s’ in Brazil (or Brasil for that effect).

The logo will be officially presented at the World Cup 2010 on July 8th, a few days before the final.

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Diego Maradona: an image that sells

Diego Maradona: an image that sells

Patricia Covarrubia   January 15, 2010   2 comments:

Today’s news (el Nuevo Herald) refers to Maradona, one of the world greatest footballers – a legend, who is preparing to open his own cable TV and internet.

The launch is taken place in Mexico, and Cavalti, one of his partners in this project, said that the programmes will mainly focus in sports, entertainment, fashion and celebrities. He also mentioned that the revenues will come from subscriptions and through advertising and sponsorships.

The channel will carry Maradona’s image and be called ‘10 ETV’. The name comes from his famous T-shirt number and the letter E referring to entertainment. Maradona, himself will have few shows.

For those of you who follow football know that Maradona will be coaching the Argentinean team in the World Cup. And for those of you who have followed his career know that he is known as an outspoken person and quite controversial. In 2005 he hosted a TV program in Argentina called ‘La noche del 10" in which he interviewed Pelé, Mike Tyson, Fidel Castro and Robbie Williams winning all rankings.

Significance:
While many IP practitioners and academics still debate the protection of ‘personality rights’ and/or ‘celebrity image’ one thing is certain, celebrity’s images are exploited and they are profitable. This technique, long used, allows a person or company (in this case it will be the TV channel and internet) to take advantage of Madona’s image. Clearly it will be used to promote and sell these services.

This type of right comprised two matters: one which is the right to publicity and the other, the right to privacy. I will focus on the first. With the World Cup coming up, I wonder how Maradona can keep his image and likeness from being commercially exploited by other channels, specifically those in Argentina. Certainly, there is a fine line. However, it is clear that Maradona cannot create a monopoly right in his popularity. In another line, where does the Argentinian channel in which Maradona recorded programs stands? can it keep repeating the programs and perhaps marketing his image?

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