FIFA COMMITTEE FOR PROTECTING PROPERTY RIGHTS UNITES EFFORTS OF DIFFERENT BODIES

FAS will suppress illegal methods of making money out of the popularity of the Cup

Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Kashevarov chaired a regular meeting of the Committee on FIFA Property Rights Protection at “Russia-2018” Steering Committee.

The bodies involved in the Committee, reported on the main results of the efforts to protect FIFA symbols and combating counterfeit products. Goods with unlawfully put FIFA trademarks have been exposed at the customs border as well as on the domestic market. Administrative and criminal cases have been opened upon the facts of such violations and the violators held liable in accord with the law.

Summing up the outcome to date, FAS pointed out an increased number of exposed campaigns and promotional events, where tickets for the matches of 2018 Cup are the awards.

Andrey Kashevarov stated that “such interest certainly demonstrates the high popularity of the Cup. FAS, however, shall suppress unlawful methods of earning on this popularity applying all available methods”.

To tighten liability and accelerate the procedures for investigating cases upon facts of unlawfully using FIFA property rights, several new amendments to the law are drafted. For example, the amendments to the Law “On Protection of Competition” allow opening and investigating cases upon facts of unfair competition, related to FIFA symbols and any associative links with FIFA, without preliminary warnings. Representatives of the Ministry of Sport informed about the progress in drafting the amendments and reported that it is expected that the amendments would be adopted already at the end of April.

FIFA representatives informed about the progress in sponsor and licensing programmes of 2018 World Cup, when the relevant agreements for the use of the symbols are concluded with new Russian and foreign companies.

An advisor on FIFA brand protection, Alexei Shvetsov, once again underlined intensification of unlawful operations for selling tickets via the Internet. Executing the earlier reached arrangements, a representative of Roscomnadzor [the Federal Service for supervision of communications, information technology and mass media] joined the work of the Committee and presented information about the competence of the authority in terms of protecting FIFA property rights. The Committee members agreed to elaborate the procedure for further cooperation in order to accelerate the procedure for blocking web sites, where illegal content was found.

Representatives of FAS, the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent), the Federal Customs Service, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Transport, “Russia-2018” Steering Committee and the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) took part in the meeting of the Committee.