Czech Republic: Olympic Committee seeks Kč 14 million as compensation from Budvar
In the country’s first lawsuit over breaching Olympic marketing rights, the Czech Olympic Committee (ČOV) has spelled out its demands for compensation from České Budějovice, South Bohemia-based brewery Budějovický Budvar for the alleged misuse of Olympic symbols before the February 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Czech Business Weekly published April 10.
At a March 27 hearing before the České Budějovice Regional Court, the ČOV announced it would request more than Kč 14 million (€ 500,800) from Budvar for the brewer’s TV ad that featured a Czech hockey team player and hinted at Olympic symbols in a marketing campaign just prior to the Turin Olympics.
“The amount has been determined by the contribution that our official sponsors pay us,” said Martin Doleček, attorney for the ČOV.
The ČOV filed the lawsuit against Budvar in February 2006 for what it claimed was an infringement of its Olympic marketing rights. In the suit, the ČOV complained about Budvar’s popular Bob and Dave TV campaign, in which two aging Brits wearing the Czech Olympic hockey team jerseys were in a bar with the Czech Olympic team’s goalie Milan Hnilička (see “Advertisers counting on hockey fever,” CBW, Feb. 13, 2006). The ČOV further said that the symbol of the Olympic torch used in the ad was for the express purpose of Budvar capitalizing on the Czech hockey fever before the tournament. Judge Jana Kralická of the České Budějovice Regional Court said that another ad feature relating to the Olympics was the invented word hokejiáda, which is similar to the Czech expression for the Olympics, Olympiáda.
Budvar attorney Lukáš Lorenc said that the word hokejiáda was invented for the purpose of the advertising campaign, and was completely independent of the Olympics.
“Budvar developed a creative marketing campaign that didn’t violate any rules,” Lorenc said. “The brewery connected the word hokej [Czech for hockey] with suffix ‘iáda,’ and this suffix isn’t a protected Olympic symbol.”
Despite insisting that the marketing campaign was unrelated to the Olympics, Budvar was ordered by the regional court to drop the campaign prior to the games, based on the appearance of goalie Hnilička in the ad. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has strict rules that Olympic athletes may not be featured in any marketing campaigns other than those of the official sponsors one month before the games begin until they’re over.
As a result, Budějovický Budvar then came up with a new ad that didn’t include images of Olympic athletes. However, the brewery insisted that it had the right to relate its commercial campaign to hockey thanks to being an official business partner of the Czech Ice Hockey Association (ČSLH).
The Advertising Council (RPR) supported Budějovický Budvar last spring by stating–after being challenged by the ČOV–that the brewery’s marketing campaign didn’t breach the ethical advertising code.
Jiří Zedníček, the ČOV vice chairman for economy, said that Budějovický Budvar’s “creative campaign” could become an example that other companies–wanting to capitalize on the Olympics without having legal rights to do so–may copy.
The ČOV commissioned an audit that should indicate to what extent it was harmed by Budvar’s campaign, Zedníček said, adding that the audit will be performed later this spring and its outcome will determine ČOV’s further claims at the České Budějovice Regional Court. ČOV’s attorney Doleček said the sports committee could increase its demands from Budějovický Budvar in addition to the requested Kč 14 million, if the audit shows the damages were more than has already been estimated.
The court indefinitely postponed further hearings in the case. The final ruling is expected to be made later this spring.
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