Gestures Worth Millions
Recording celebrations as brands is transforming sport. Players such as Mbappé and Vinicius Jr. are turning them into valuable commercial assets. At Iberian Lawyer, we analyse this with experts in industrial property.
Experts: María Dolores Garayalde, a partner in the intellectual property area of Baker McKenzie; Aída Tarí, head of the Trademarks and Brand Intelligence department at PONS IP and Luis Baz, head of the trademark area at Elzaburu.
by mercedes galán
Football is no longer just a sporting spectacle; it has also become fertile ground for sophisticated commercial strategies. Athletes are taking their iconic celebrations beyond the field, turning them into strategic commercial assets. From Kylian Mbappé to Michael Jordan, protecting gestures and movements has become a new way to capitalize on sporting success. At Iberian Lawyer, we explore this phenomenon—where sports and industrial property intersect—alongside several experts in the field.
As María Dolores Garayalde, a partner in the intellectual property area of Baker McKenzie, explains, in the world of sports, particularly in football, goal celebrations have become a clear personal signature for many players. In recent years, as Aída Tarí, head of the Trademarks and Brand Intelligence department at PONS IP, notes, “sports stars such as David Beckham, Rafael Nadal, Pau Gasol, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, Gareth Bale, or Cristiano Ronaldo have opted to protect their names, nicknames, slogans, and celebrations as trademarks in different jurisdictions.”
LEGAL OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
“The main opportunity is to monetize these distinctive expressions, granting exclusive rights to exploit their use in the market, both directly and through licensing to third parties,” says Garayalde. For a celebration to be registered, it must be graphically representable. “It can be a figurative mark (a static image), a movement mark (an animation), or even a multimedia mark (a combination of video and sound),” she explains.
Tarí highlights that “the challenge for industrial property lawyers, as exemplified by the case of Mbappé, is to develop comprehensive strategies to protect intangible assets in a global and digitalized environment, as athletes now extend trademark registration beyond their name and signature, including celebrations and sound marks.”
Some standout examples include the famous “jumping player” image of Michael Jordan, registered by Nike, or the animation of Cristiano Ronaldo running and jumping vertically with his arms outstretched while shouting “Siuuu,” which could be registered as a multimedia mark, Garayalde points out. The celebration must also meet registration requirements such as distinctiveness and the absence of conflicts with prior rights. Athletes, agents, and clubs need to define a national and international protection strategy for these distinctive signs, Tarí explains.
