JUNE 2009
How to avoid an IP ambush
Practitioners in six jurisdictions explain how the law protects event organisers and sponsors from ambush marketing
| One-minute read |
Brand owners who pay millions of dollars for the advertising rights that accompany event sponsorship want to make sure that they enjoy advertising exclusivity. Event organisers and governments that host major sporting fixtures need to keep their commercial sponsors happy if they are to recoup some of the growing costs of staging high-profile events such as the Olympics and the Football World Cup and Rugby World Cup. For these people, ambush marketing – where a company not associated with an event claims some sort of unofficial or official link to it – is an expensive irritation rather than a witty marketing coup.
Now many governments are tackling the ambush marketers with event-specific or more wide-ranging legislation. We asked practitioners in six countries that have recently hosted, or are due to host, major international sporting events to tell us about the rules in their jurisdictions designed to protect event organisers and sponsors from ambush marketing. |
| Questions on ambush marketing |
- Does your jurisdiction have specific laws to combat ambush marketing?
- Are there any other legal measures that events organisers or sponsors can use to challenge ambush marketing (for example, unfair competition laws, trade mark law)?
- Have there been any important cases dealing with ambush marketing in your jurisdiction?
- Are there any examples of times when people have been unable to stop ambush marketing in your country?
- Are there any other practical measures that an event organiser or sponsor can take to combat ambush marketing?
- What advice do you have for a trade mark owner who is not an official sponsor but who wants to use an event to promote their brand – while staying within the law?
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AustraliaGermanyNew ZealandSouth AfricaUKUS
Australia
1) Laws
Australia has enacted significant federal and state anti-ambush marketing legislation:
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