In order to safeguard the rights of its official partners, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has issued guidelines to print media houses and travel agencies on the use of the ICC logo, symbols and proprietary content.
In a letter to media houses, ICC said the first instance of violation of guidelines will be dealt with through dialogue with the publication concerned; but if the activity persists, it will be deemed to have knowingly breached the exclusive rights granted by the ICC to its sponsors, partners and licencees, and the ICC may initiate further action, including legal recourse.
ICC has roped in Copyright Integrity International to work closely with its in-house legal team on the management of a comprehensive rights protection programme.
Given the number of cases of rights infringement that have gone to court in the recent past, the international governing body for cricket has taken a proactive measure to make sure that no third party tries to commercialise its content or events.
In the circular, ICC has clarified that no third-party name shall be used while mentioning the ICC logo, symbol or content in publications or vice-versa.
A similar letter was sent to Biji Eapen, president of the IATA Agents Association of India, stating that the ICC has appointed UK-headquartered TUI Travel PLC (trading as ICC Travel) as the official travel and tour provider to the ICC, who in turn has appointed several travel and tour partners. Other than these entities, no other travel and tour operator may use the ICC's logos, trademarks and word marks, or associate in any other way with the ICC. The letter also states that match tickets (alone or as part of packages) may be sold only by the official travel and tour partners.
This year, Kolkata-based travel agency Fanatic has been named the official travel partner from India for the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh. A few more agents might be appointed as official travel partners, said a source.
ICC's head of legal, Iain Higgins, said: "Our commercial partners and sponsors make our events possible and generate significant funding for the global game. The aim of the ICC's commercial rights protection programme is to maintain the exclusivity of their association with our events. It is vital that those rights are protected so that our partners' investments can be channelled into the development of cricket throughout our 106 Members."
HARD HITTERS
* Exclusive rights granted to official partners PepsiCo, LG, Hyundai, Castrol, Emirates, MoneyGram, Reebok and Reliance in relation to any ICC event
* Official logo of ICC or any of its event can be used for journalistic and non-commercial purposes only
* ICC names, marks or contents can't be used with any ad, message, name, logo, trade mark or word mark of a third party
* ICC names, marks, photos or contents with any unlicensed ad, message, name, logo, trade-mark or word mark of a third party can't be published with any article, match synopsis, match review, or snap-shot relating to an event or any previous edition
* Any third-party sponsored or presented scorecards, capsules or tables containing fixtures, timings and/or venue details of matches can't be published
* Syndicated columns that displays any ICC names, marks or contents and display the name, trade mark, word mark or logo of any commercial or non-commercial entity/entities have been banned
* Publishing a special page, section or supplement relating to any event with any symbols signalling ICC have also been banned
