Geoff Steward, Partner, Intellectual Property – Addleshaw Goddard
Joel McDonald, Head of Brands – Addleshaw Goddard
Victoria Davidson, Deputy General Counsel – Brentford FC
Paul Dicken, Vice President, Brand Protection & Corporate Security – Liverpool FC
Geoff Steward opened the discussion by talking about the ‘naivety’ of brands in sport citing the Six Nations rugby championship as an example of a great event that doesn’t think of itself as a brand.
He talked about the tensions in football, as a club has its own brand, while players have their own brands. “Who’s got the value in those rights?”
He outlined other tensions that may arise with fans of clubs: “What happens when a club starts to behave as a corporate?”
The different approaches of Premier League clubs became an interesting theme of the discussion.
Dicken talked of the “challenging” time when Liverpool Football Club failed in an attempt to trademark the word ‘Liverpool’. Liverpool has registered Liverpool FC as a trademark.
Steward talked of inconsistencies with place names across the Premier League, and cited Everton trademarking Everton and West Ham doing the same with West Ham.
Victoria Davidson said that it wasn’t something that Brentford had considered.
Joel McDonald remarked that if you see ‘Liverpool’ on a T shirt then you do associate that with Liverpool FC. They have looked at trademarking other things like The Shankly Gates.
Davidson said: “There is a big difference between a fan doing something out of love for a club, and someone wanting to make money. Our priority is protecting our core IP.”
Steward said that a football club’s value is not in their players or stadium but in their brand.
Dicken emphasised that this is now very valuable. “When your trademark portfolio is in the billions, that wakes everyone up!”
“Manchester City treat their portfolio as a brand,” Steward added.
“All businesses should have a brand strategy,” McDonald explained. “With football clubs it can change quite rapidly.” He cited the recent announcement of Mo Salah leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.
Dicken took up the point, and recalled how Liverpool moved fast after winning the European Cup for the sixth time.
Davidson explained that image rights had never been seen as a problem as Brentford and their players had been lower profile.
Dicken talked engagingly about potentially image-harming mistakes Academy players may make and how that may affect the brand of the club.
Davidson and Dicken both emphasised the importance of due diligence when seeking partnerships, such as a shirt sponsor. Brentford have Hollywoodbets as their shirt sponsor.
The instances of AI infringing trademarks while creating content is providing fresh challenges, and in response both Liverpool and Brentford are in the process of drafting their policies.