UEFA loses trophy re-match at US Copyright Office
The US Copyright Office has refused to grant Europe’s football governing body copyright protection for its European Championship trophy.
UEFA’s second request for reconsideration was denied by the Review Board of the US Copyright Office on September 18, affirming the earlier decisions of the office.
The football governing body filed to register a 3D depiction of its trophy in 2016. The trophy, which is awarded to the winning team in the European Championship, consists of a silver two-handled vase with a bulb-shaped body and twisted handles.
The winner keeps the EURO cup for four years, until the next tournament.
In 2017, the office advised UEFA that the trophy lacks the authorship necessary to support the grant of copyright protection.
UEFA requested that the office reconsider its refusal to register the trophy, but the office affirmed its initial decision in March 2018.
A “very simple combination of elements” such as a vase and twisted handles does not “exhibit the creativity to support a registration”, the office said.
The football governing body disputed the conclusion that the trophy is a standard vase. UEFA claimed that the shape of the trophy, and its decorative engravings and twisted handles, are creative.
Again, UEFA asked the copyright office to reconsider its determination.
Although “only a modicum of creativity is necessary” to secure copyright protection, the review board said, it agreed that the football governing body did not meet the threshold in this instance.
The board explained that combinations of common design elements may contain sufficient creativity with respect to how they are arranged.
However, “a mere simplistic arrangement of non-protectable elements does not demonstrate the level of creativity necessary to warrant protection”, the board said.
The trophy contains common design features based on classical and common works of art, and the combination of them “does not rise to the level of creativity required” under copyright law, according to the board.
The board’s determination that the trophy should not be afforded copyright protection represents the final decision in the matter.
This is not the only copyright setback that UEFA has experienced recently.
In July, the review board refused to grant copyright protection for UEFA’s famous Starball logo. It said that the logo, made up of a 2D shape full of black stars, is not sufficiently original to sustain a claim for copyright.
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