Advertisement 2AdvertisementThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article contentIn a followup statement, the City of Toronto said it expects to “deploy up to 60 staff on FIFA game days to enforce municipal bylaws, including illegal vending to support consumer protection. The work is expected to begin with the first game on June 12.”Article contentWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.Try refreshing your browser, ortap here to see other videos from our team.Article contentA question about whether FIFA branding
rules would be enforced at places like community centres, churches and schools was ignored by city representatives.Article contentFIFA defended its approach to intellectual property enforcement, calling it “common practice for major international sporting events.”Article content“Investing time and resources to protect its brands is of paramount importance to FIFA in order to secure the revenue streams, which enable us to support the development and growth of football globally,” the organization said in its statement.Article contentList of guidelines for businessesArticle contentWhile local businesses can’t use World Cup
trademarks, FIFA says they can still get into the spirit of the tournament with their branding. The organization has a document, available online, on IP guidelines – essentially a list of branding dos and don’ts.Article contentBars can’t refer to the tournament by name on a sign, for example, but they can invite people to come in and watch soccer.Article content“FIFA encourages businesses and the public to use generic football or country-related images and/or terminology that do not incorporate any FIFA intellectual property,” the document says.Article
contentHowever, it also warns: “The guidelines are not to be used as a tool to avoid legal liability with the deliberate intent to ambush FIFA’s marketing rights” – presumably stunts like the 2006 Dutch shorts incident.Article contentArticle content Featured Local Savings
Toronto, FIFA, trademarks, enforcement, municipal bylaws, illegal vending, June 12, World Cup trademarks, intellectual property guidelines