Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31141/zrpfs.2019.56.132.271
The legal aspects of ambush marketing
Tone Jagodic
; Olympic Committee of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Zlatko Mateša
; Zagreb School of Economics and Management, Zagreb
Abstract
As sponsorship is a vital tool for new sources of money for sport it is important to set certain standards which should be strictly protected. Ambush marketing represents an activity which could harm the essence of the sponsorship. It may take any number of forms but essentially, it is an attack on the exclusivity which most commercial partners of sport seek and wish, to a limited extend, obtain. Exclusivity of sponsors is the element of sponsorship which is most commonly attacked by parasitic companies. The media (especially TV) play a decisive role of public opinion regarding the connection of sponsor and sponsored subject. It is obvious that ambush marketing can only be done intentionally, not by negligence. In some cases of ambush marketing the involvement of athletes is evident. An athlete should be aware of his responsibilities, a precise examination of obligations in different sponsorship agreements with sponsors of athletes and their teams should be made to avoid “internal” ambush. One of the most important factors is to determine the relationship between the sponsors of an athlete and the sponsors of his/her (national) team. Most sports organizations (clubs, national federations, NOCs, International federations, IOC) are in the position that they can not survive without sponsorship funds. That is why it is important to work with their athletes on different levels to prevent ambush marketers to use athletes to make a lot of harm into the relationship with the official sponsors. Legal protection against ambush marketing is vital for different types of sponsorship and endorsements. Prevention and immediate response to attempts of ambush marketing is crucial as sponsors are extremely sensible and closely watch the way of athlete behavior in case of ambush marketing. Passing of special laws against ambush marketing represent very useful legal support for organizers of sports competitions. It is very important that sponsors and other rights holders have an active policy of the registration and protection of all intellectual property rights associated with a sport event.
Keywords
sponsorship; exclusivity; sponsor; athlete; Olympic; intellectual property rights; agreement
Hrčak ID:
220101
URI
Publication date:
14.5.2019.
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