Anger brews over Bacchus football ad
Published: 23 Sep. 2009, 00:23
Korea Football Association applied for a provisional disposition yesterday in order to temporarily halt airing a TV commercial that advertises Bacchus, an energy drink produced by Dong-a Pharmaceutical, using footage from a national football team in June.
The Seoul Central District Court quoted the association as saying that the drug producer and Cheil Worldwide, an advertising agency, infringed the rights of the association by using clips from the 2010 World Cup qualifying match in June this year between South Korea and Iran without permission.
The association also said it is illegal to broadcast partial pictures of the match and the national team and to air part of an interview with South Korean player Park Ji-sung, according to KFA, adding that the International Federation of Association Football, or FIFA, and its sponsors are complaining about the commercial.
The association possesses broadcast rights and the right of likeness regarding the national football team and matches.
KFA said using the images violated the rights of official match sponsors. In addition, they said such action even threatens the existence of the World Cup.
If the court approves the disposition, the drug manufacturer has to pay 10 million won ($8,307) for each commercial aired.
In response to KFA’s appeal, Dong-a said that commercial rights, including broadcast rights, of Asian qualifying games for the World Cup are managed by the Asian Football Confederation under the FIFA regulations and the firm had already paid the necessary royalties. The company added that it paid all the costs in exchange for broadcasting rights from TV stations and the rights to the athletes’ images.
By Choe Sun-uk, Lee Min-yong [[email protected]]
The Seoul Central District Court quoted the association as saying that the drug producer and Cheil Worldwide, an advertising agency, infringed the rights of the association by using clips from the 2010 World Cup qualifying match in June this year between South Korea and Iran without permission.
The association also said it is illegal to broadcast partial pictures of the match and the national team and to air part of an interview with South Korean player Park Ji-sung, according to KFA, adding that the International Federation of Association Football, or FIFA, and its sponsors are complaining about the commercial.
The association possesses broadcast rights and the right of likeness regarding the national football team and matches.
KFA said using the images violated the rights of official match sponsors. In addition, they said such action even threatens the existence of the World Cup.
If the court approves the disposition, the drug manufacturer has to pay 10 million won ($8,307) for each commercial aired.
In response to KFA’s appeal, Dong-a said that commercial rights, including broadcast rights, of Asian qualifying games for the World Cup are managed by the Asian Football Confederation under the FIFA regulations and the firm had already paid the necessary royalties. The company added that it paid all the costs in exchange for broadcasting rights from TV stations and the rights to the athletes’ images.
By Choe Sun-uk, Lee Min-yong [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)