Yiwu People's Court of Zhejiang Province recently concluded a copyright infringement case in favor of Adidas regarding the official football's design of 2014 FIFA Brazil World Cup.
In December 2013, Yiwu Customs detained 50 footballs marked with "Adidas" trademark and special designs in the exported goods of a procurement company.
In February 2014, Adidas sued the procurement company for copyright infringement before Yiwu People's Court claiming that Adidas was assigned the copyright of works of “Brazuca”, the official football of 2014 FIFA Brazil World Cup, and the works of “Brazuca” was published on the unveiling ceremony of the official football of 2014 FIFA Brazil World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in December 2013. The appearance of the seized 50 footballs was exactly the same to “Brazuca”. Therefore Adidas believed that the company constituted copyright infringement and requested the defendant to cease infringement, make a public apology and make a compensation of 200,000 RMB for its economic loss and reasonable expense.
After examination, the court held that the design on the alleged footballs, including the patterns of 6 light-color crosses evenly distributed on the ball, the 3-colored belt of orange, green and blue encircling every 3 of the crosses and the navy triangle on every cross of the belts expresses the author’s innovative thought and has its originality, and the design belongs to the type of works of art covered by copyright law. The court judged that in addition to the different colors of cross patterns, there was substantial similarity between the footballs of the two parties. Thus there was an infringement in this case.
Finally, the court held that the defendant should stop infringement immediately and make a compensation of 50,000 RMB for the Adidas’ economic loss. Neither of the two parties appeals then.
