Think before you do any thing!
Three recent pieces of info in recent times leave me quite amazed.
Firstly, some thing Amit Varma pointed out a few days ago:
Not long ago, when the BCCI tried to get mobile companies to stop sending cricket scores as SMS updates to their users, I had a hearty laugh. Did these chaps actually believe that they owned cricket scores? It seemed evident that once these scores were in the public domain, anyone could use them in any way they wanted… Later, there were murmurs about them trying to get Cricinfo to stop ball-by-ball commentary…
A case between a St. Louis company and the internet arm of MLB over the legality of using player names and fantasy league stats is also quoted from The NY Times which shows such matters do not exist only in India.
Name usage of athletes is very strict in the US under copyright laws. So, we had EA Sports not being able to have Michael Jordan is it’s PC game NBA Live Action for a few years as the rights of using the Jordan name in such ways were already bought. So, MLB has a solid case if such a copyright has been used by them.
The issue here is this - some one has paid or has done some thing to get a copyright. That person/organisation/company may object to some one else profiting from it. Next, the whole interesting issue of public domain comes in. If an information is in public domain, can people can use of it be objected like?! What if they are making money out of it? What if such money does not create an ambushing scenario?
World Cup Blog, a few months ago, was officially mailed by FIFA as their excellent blog was violating trademark laws.
Bob Kellett wrote back then:
If by promoting the World Cup, getting fans excited about the event and providing news about the teams that you can’t find elsewhere in English is materially damaging FIFA, Budweiser, Mastercard, et al., then we plead guilty.
Why can an individual or a fan blog not use a name as he wishes? Heck, if I want to call the Cricket World Cup just that in my backyard and not the ICC Cricket World Cup, will the ICC come running after me? No? Think again.
Wednesday’s Jamaica Gleaner reports that the local organising committee (or LOC to use its official acronym) for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 has instructed its lawyers to serve notice on the owners of a downtown Kingston property which has the words “Welcome cricket 2007″ painted across the front…
One has to wonder whose market was being ambushed in this case. Or is it now going to be impossible for anyone living in a World Cup host locality to display their excitement about the coming event without being sent a bill for the privilege?
The solution, of course, is to change the wording of the sign to: “Piss off cricket, welcome basketball 2007.”
Is that not violation of the right of the person to express himself, ICC?
Sport is big business now. So protection of the companies which put in money into a sport is only legitimate. However, it should not reach ridiculous levels.
Tags: BCCI, FIFA World Cup 2006, ICC.
