Calcutta: Champions League Twenty20 has hit yet another roadblock with the Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) objecting to the name of the event claiming trademark violation.
The European soccer governing body, which conducts the annual Champions League football tournament, saw a trademark violation in the effort by the cricket boards of India, England, South Africa and Pakistan to have a Twenty20 cricket tournament bearing the same name.
According to a report in a cricket website, Uefa has recently sent a letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), objecting to the name after the BCCI had applied for a community trade mark (CTM) license for the Champions League T20 to promote the event worldwide.
The inaugural edition of the tournament was scheduled to be held in December last year before the Mumbai terror attacks led to its postponement.
Sundar Raman, the proposed tournament’s chief executive officer, told The Telegraph: “It is certainly news to me. I am hearing it for the first time. Even if it is so, the Uefa cannot oppose, the objection has to come from the trademark registering office.”
Uefa couldn’t be reached for comments as they are closed for Christmas and New Year holidays. Incidentally, Champions League may refer to various sports competitions though it most commonly refers to football.
In football, Uefa is not the only body to host a tournament in the name of Champions League. The club championships of CONCACAF, Asia (AFC), Oceania (OFC), and Africa (CAF) have similar names.
In other sports too the name champions league is often heard. CEV Champions League for volleyball clubs in Europe, rink hockey European Champions League, table tennis European Champions League, Collegiate Champions League for an amateur basketball league in the Philippines and Champions hockey League for ice hockey clubs in Europe, to mention a few (source: Wikipedia).
The Uefa Champions League, which evolved from the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, is a seasonal club competition organised by the Uefa since 1992 (overall in its older format since 1955) for the most successful football clubs in Europe.
Like the Fifa World Cup, the Uefa Champions League is sponsored by a group of multinational corporations.
When the Champions League was created in 1992, it was decided that a maximum of eight companies should be allowed to sponsor the event, with each corporation being allocated four advertising boards around the perimeter of the pitch, as well as logo placement at pre and post-match interviews.
The tournament’s current main sponsors are: Ford, Heineken, MasterCard, Vodafone, Adidas and Sony. The PlayStation Series also sponsors the tournament as one of Sony’s brands. Konami’s Pro Evolution soccer is also a secondary sponsor as the official Champions League video game.
