Soccer clubs sue companies on image rights

Tuesday, June 14, 2005 | 9:14 a.m.

Italian soccer champion Juventus sued an undisclosed number of Internet betting companies for unauthorized use of the club's logo and images of players, the Turin-based team said in a statement today. It didn't identify the companies.

Dutch champion PSV Eindhoven joined Juventus in the legal action, which was filed in Paris and Liege courts, Juventus said. Jean-Louis Dupont, a lawyer for the G14 group of leading European soccer clubs, will represent the two teams, it added.

Juventus and PSV want immediate action to prevent unauthorized reproduction of any identifying symbols of the clubs. The teams will also seek damages for the "indiscriminate use of logo and image rights" by the Internet betting companies in their marketing.

The two clubs join record nine-time European champion Real Madrid in taking legal action against bookmakers over image rights. Madrid started a lawsuit in February, accusing seven Internet betting companies -- including Hilton Group Plc's Ladbrokes and William Hill Plc -- in France, Belgium and Germany of illegally using the club's logo and images. Dupont was Real Madrid's lawyer in the suit.

Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for William Hill, said today that the case was "ongoing," while Ladbrokes' spokesman Ciaran O'Brien wasn't immediately available to comment. Real Madrid's press office didn't have any more information on the lawsuits, according to a spokeswoman who declined to be named.