FIFA blocks Rosberg's World Cup celebration
FIFA has defended its decision to ban Nico Rosberg from carrying an image of the World Cup on his celebratory helmet for this weekend’s German Grand Prix.
Following Germany’s fourth World Cup triumph on Sunday via their 1-0 victory over Argentina at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, an ecstatic Rosberg immediately sought to reflect his team’s achievement.
On Tuesday Rosberg tweeted a picture of the helmet he had planned to wear at Hockenheim, resplendent with the colours of the German flag.
this will be my Hockenheim World Cup special edition helmet with the FIFA trophy. How do you like it??? @DFB_Team pic.twitter.com/ZKE4gh5EpA
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 15, 2014
Primarily, it was adorned with four stars to indicate the number of times they have been crowned champions, whilst on top was an image of the World Cup.
FIFA, however, caught wind of the situation and contacted Rosberg’s manager Georg Nolte to inform him his driver would have to remove the image due to an infringement of its intellectual property rights.
Speaking to Press Association Sport, a FIFA spokesperson said: “FIFA is obliged to take action against any unauthorised reproduction of its intellectual property in a commercial context.”
“As a result, we cannot allow a commercially branded helmet to feature the FIFA World Cup trophy as this would jeopardise the rights of our commercial affiliates.”
“We appreciate Nico Rosberg’s desire to congratulate the German team and have therefore been in discussions with the Rosberg team to attempt to find a solution, whereby he is still able to show his support for Germany without using FIFA intellectual property in a commercial context.”
The new helmet, tweeted on Thursday by Rosberg, now figures the four stars far more prominently complete with each of the years Germany have won the trophy, with this year’s the most significant.
a shame,i would have loved to carry the trophy as a tribute to the guys.but of course I respect the legal situation pic.twitter.com/esCboJkL4c
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 17, 2014
