393. Brazil would like to welcome the debate on IP and sports proposed by the delegations of European Union, Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States. We would like to contribute to this debate with some remarks on our experience in sport events.
394. Brazil will host, in 2014, one of the biggest sport events, the World Cup. Having this in mind, our country is putting in place tangible initiatives to ensure protection to intellectual property related to sports. Among them, I would like to highlight legislative measures as well as public policies directed towards building respect for intellectual property.
395. On legislative measures, the Brazilian Government approved in June 2012 the General Law of the World Cup. This event-specific law refers to the protection and use of trade rights during the World Cup. Its norms provide enhanced protection to official symbols owned by FIFA when compared to the Industrial Property Law, recognizing these symbols as highly reputed trademarks.
396. The general law also introduced in the Brazilian normative a new type of infringement to trademark rights known as "ambush marketing". This new provision is aimed at fighting the unfair use of products and services associated to FIFA or World Cup sponsors trademarks during the event.
397. On copyright, the new normative ensures to FIFA exclusive rights over images and sounds related to the event.
398. Regarding public policies, the National Council to Fight Piracy and other infringements to Intellectual Property (CNCP) has set as an objective the strengthening of protection to IP rights during big sport events such as the World Cup in 2014 and the Rio Olympics in 2016. The Third National Plan to Fight Piracy and other IP infringements, released last May, includes among the initiatives to reach this goal, the enhanced cooperation with local government authorities in host cities. Until today, CNCP has signed cooperation agreements with local authorities of São Paulo, Curitiba, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador.
399. In addition, in 2012, CNCP signed a cooperation agreement with FIFA to enhance effective mechanisms to fight IP rights violations related to the World Cup, as well as disseminate the respect for intellectual property in the Brazilian Society.
400. The fourth National Plan to Fight Piracy and other IP infringements, set to be released in the second semester of 2014 will include specific measures to enhance enforcement of IP rights during the Olympics in 2016. This initiative may be complemented by legislative measures that can also be put in place to reach this goal.
