Zhao Xiaokai hopes to sell the mark for US$125,000, reports
Chinese news site Xinhua Online. The image is a silhouette,
apparently in an attempt to avoid infringing Zidane's image
rights.
Zidane has fought to protect his image rights before. Last year
he and four other soccer stars – David Beckham, Luis Figo,
Raul and Ronaldo – joined their club, Real Madrid, in filing
infringement suits against seven online bookies that allegedly used
their names and images in online marketing material without
consent.
It is possible that Zidane and Materazzi will argue that Zhao
has no rights to trade mark the head-butt image, even as a
silhouette, given that they arguably are still recognisable.
In the UK, the law of passing off can sometimes be used to
prevent a celebrity's image being used overtly to promote a
commercial product. The closest the UK courts have come to
recognising a "celebrity right" was racing driver Eddie Irvine's
success against talkSPORT in the High Court in March 2002, although
the decision was consistent with existing principles. It simply
recognised the commercial value of personal endorsements.
In Irvine's case, a promotional brochure was sent to less than
1,000 people advertising radio station Talk Radio, with a photo
that had been doctored to show Irvine holding a radio bearing a
Talk Radio logo, instead of a mobile phone, which he was holding in
the original photo.
Editor's note: Thanks to IPKat for bringing this story
to our attention.
