The Appeal Court in Belgium upholds bookmakers rights

The appeal court in Belgium has supported the bookmakers in a resolution that enables them to exploit the name and event of sports organizations for gambling purposes. Desiring to charge a fee from the gaming organizers, the sports organizations claimed this should be each time an event tag or sports group name would be used.

Taking on internet gambling operators such as Unibet, Bwin and William Hill, several of the sports clubs, such as PSV Eindhoven, FC Porto and Juventus, sued the former in court over a dispute whether the club names can be used on sites for internet gambling. It was resolved by the Li?ge appeals court that internet gambling is a different commercial operation and so sport organizers cannot make a claim for demanding a fee for name usage. A sum of two million euros was in the sights of the sports clubs focused on the gambling companies’ operators in the form of compensation in addition to thwarting the operators’ actions defined by a court order. Up to fifty thousand euros fines were the sums the clubs attempted to persuade the court to demand for the sports clubs’ image rights and infringements.

According to Paul van der Bulk, the gambling companies’ lawyer, who is McGuire Woods partner, they needed the cash for trademark use. However, according to the court, gambling is one kind of activity and sports team is another. Furthermore, it was stated that it’s all to do with the principles of free marketing, claiming that it’s the same as a restaurant near the Le Mans track or an airline at the time of the World Cup – although maintaining advantages they don’t need a license for it has very little connection to sports. The defense lawyer considered that this decision may not possibly assist with other cases such as this taking place in France. Bwin’s investor relation’s manager, Konrad Sveceny claimed that they were delighted with the decision and were extremely satisfied that this is now over. They cannot envisage any reason for this changing even though an appeal is being made. They view themselves as contributing to sports and as partners with sports organizations.

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