ICC announces CWC 2011 commercial rights protection programme
The ICC has engaged Copyright Integrity International (CII) to work closely with its existing in-house legal team on the management of a comprehensive rights protection programme for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, which gets underway on 19 February.
Based in Bengaluru, CII is a privately-held specialist in online and offline anti-piracy protection services for sports clients. It will provide the ICC with a suite of commercial rights-protection and anti-piracy services and solutions such as online content and broadcast protection, comprehensive trademark and brand protection and media terms enforcement, in a programme designed to protect the ICC's intellectual property rights from the threats of piracy, ambush marketing and unlicenced use.
ICC's General Manager - Commercial, Campbell Jamieson, 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 105 Members.
"We have previously worked with CII on rights protection around other ICC events and have been very happy with its services. We are delighted to extend its mandate to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011," said Mr Jamieson.
CII Chief Executive Dr Clinton Free added: "It's a privilege to be engaged by a client such as the ICC to manage the commercial rights-protection programme for such a globally significant event as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Our extensive services and experienced team will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the event is an unqualified success. Our role will include not only the monitoring and enforcement of infringements but also an education programme for the public that will ensure wholesome enjoyment of the event with due respect to the ICC's commercial partners and sponsors."
In addition, the associated legal practice, the law offices of Nandan Kamath, has been retained to provide legal advisory services in connection with the event.
The ICC's legal team has been working hard over the past few months to develop strategies to combat unlawful association with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, particularly within the three host territories of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
As part of that programme, it has recently released brand and content protection guidelines for the tournament. Through a series of easy to understand FAQs and illustrations, this document provides other companies and members of the public with a useful guide to how they might associate with the event without infringing the rights that have been granted to the ICC's official partners. The brand and content protection document may be downloaded from the official ICC website at: http://static.icc-cricket.com/ugc/documents/DOC_78EA5B38294E6DA3B05BD9BBEED292E4_1289140599475_38.pdf
More information about CII can be found at www.copyrightintegrity.com.