New Delhi: Rodney D. Ryder, partner at law firm Kochhar and Co., refers to the Indian Premier League (IPL), the popular Twenty20 cricket tournament, as the “intellectual property league”!
The lawyer, who specializes in intellectual property (IP), is a cricket enthusiast. And he is helping his client, the Hyderabad-based cricket franchise Deccan Chargers, create a unique IP portfolio, including trademarks for team logos, copyright over player uniforms and website layouts. The objective is to protect IP, make a profit and increase brand valuation.
Image building: IPL merchandise at a Reebok store in Gurgaon. Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint
“My client knew about basic IP. They knew a brand must be protected through trademarks, but they didn’t imagine the enormity,” says Ryder. “One challenge is, unlike brands that have grown over time like Coca-Cola, here the brands have seen an exponential growth (in popularity) in a year.”
The popularity of IPL, which has opened up numerous business opportunities in only its second season, has caused brand managers to take notice of the importance of protecting their IP and seek trademarks for both existing products such as team apparel and those still in the realm of imagination.
Darshan M., vice-president of commercial operations at Deccan Chargers, says he couldn’t help but notice how small shops in “every nook and corner” in cities such as Chennai and Bangalore were selling cigarette lighters with his team’s logo on it. Fake products of bad quality could have fans associating the experience with the team and its brand.
“We are building communities to support us and we want our fans to get the right experience,” says Darshan.
Deccan Chargers has applied for trademarks to merchandise and manufacture numerous products. Besides obvious trademarks for clothing, footwear and sporting articles, it has filed applications for consumable products such as meat, tobacco products, tea, coffee, mineral and aerated water.
The controller general of patents, designs and trademarks’ registry shows trademark applications from Kolkata Knight Riders, owned by actor Shah Rukh Khan, for financial services, insurance, websites, telecom, entertainment and beauty care products. Similarly, Mumbai Indians have filed trademark applications for cosmetics, musical instruments and photographic and cinema equipment, among others.
Ryder says these applications has been filed “anticipating” significant business potential in the teams’ brand- building exercise as the IPL series grows. It will take three to four years for the trademarks to be granted, but IP rights accrue from the date of application.
“Last year, no teams did any merchandising beyond T-shirts. This year the revenue has gone up considerably from this for the teams that are doing well. As we move forward and merchandising starts on a larger scale worldwide, all such issues become important,” says Rakesh Singh, head of marketing, India Cements Ltd which owns Chennai Super Kings.