Nusantara Legal Partnership (“NLP”) recently represented the Fédération Internationale de Basketball (“FIBA”) in FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 partially held in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 25 August to 3 September 2023 (“FIBA WC 2023”). Indonesia was one of the co-host cities of FIBA WC 2023, together with Okinawa, Japan, and Manila, the Philippines. This international sporting event marks the first time, Jakarta, as the capital city of Indonesia, hosting a senior-level men's World Cup competition. FIBA WC 2023 was held in the new indoor stadium, Indonesia Arena, located within Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex (“GBK”).
For this momentous tournament, NLP advised FIBA on Intellectual Property matters, and various other matters related to the protection of sponsorship arrangements and advertising regulations, for the purpose of performing the Rights Protection Program (“RPP”). The aim of RPP is to mitigate the ambush marketing of FIBA's Intellectual Property and the rights granted to sponsors and suppliers of FIBA that would potentially hinder the overall strategy, as well as avoid any serious Intellectual Property infringements during FIBA WC 2023.
Key Takeaways of Ambush Marketing
Ambush marketing refers to an action by third parties that involves an attempt to obtain direct or indirect exposure in an event for gaining rewards without sponsorship rights. It also refers to any third party attempting to take unlawful advantage of a major event.
Ambush Marketing could take many forms. But in practice, an ambush marketing might be attempted by opportunistic third parties through certain actions, giving the impression that certain brands are associated with an event, a team, or players participating in the tournament, while they are not. Moreover, unauthorized parties could also make use of the “hype” of a tournament by purposely ambushing the event by conducting an on-spot marketing stunt and selling unauthorized goods within the venue.
Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights During a Sporting Tournament
In addition to ambush marketing, in large sporting tournaments such as FIBA WC 2023, the organizer should be aware of potential infringements of intellectual property rights during the competition in respect of official merchandise, which may result in substantial financial loss to the tournament's organizer due to the unlawful and unauthorized monetization of the economic rights of the intellectual right's holders.
Other than sales of unofficial merchandise, other kinds of intellectual property infringements are often sighted during a major sporting tournament including unofficial hospitality events held by unauthorized third parties surrounding the tournament venues, professional ticket touters selling counterfeit tickets, unlawful live streaming of matches from the arena by the spectators, and unauthorized use of the tournament's marketing materials to generate more exposure to the relevant advertisements.
From an Indonesian legal perspective, such infringements can be classified as copyright infringements under the Copyright Law. Pursuant to the Copyright Law, copyright holders who have the economic rights can assign the rights to third parties by their permission.
How We Can Help
NLP is a market-leading boutique law firm in hospitality and entertainment practice, and has helped clients in the diverse leisure and hospitality industry. Being the only law firm having on- the-ground experience in handling RPP program in Indonesia for a sporting federation, the firm recently represented one of the largest video game publishers and media companies on matters relating to gambling prohibitions, over-the-top content restrictions, and broadcasting rights.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
