By the Murgitroyd & Company office from Great Britain, the registered patent and trademark representatives in the EU of David Beckham, the famous football player of the Real Madrid club and the captain of the England football team, our office - lawyer Vojislav Mihailović (Patent & Trade Mark Agency Vojislav Mihailović) from of Belgrade received a mandate and instructions to, as their deputies on the local ground, take preventive steps (of an extrajudicial nature) in order to stop the advertising campaign in which indirectly/indirectly and, of course, without his knowledge and consent, misused the appearance and personal name of our client by the company Ledo in Croatia and the company Frikom in Serbia, as well as to clear up the resulting confusion, on the market and in the public, about the role our client.
As is well known, the whole case started a few months ago (April, 2004), when the Ledo company started an advertising campaign for ice cream on the territory of Croatia with billboards, TV spots and other advertising materials on which it was shown, initially anonymously. a person who looks extremely similar to our client (from hair color, hairstyle, distinctive earring to the national colors of England's soccer jersey - white shirt and black shorts). Along with such a "projected character", another illegal act of the violators followed - a play on words around the name of our client ("Beckam", as a substitute for the real one, Beckham). All this happens, by chance, before the start of the European Football Championship in Portugal, and the product itself is also accidentally advertised under the name "Football".
From Croatia, the campaign is "moved" in the same form (with appropriate language corrections) to the territory of Serbia, where it is taken over and continued by the company Frikom from Belgrade. The operation is running synchronized and smoothly, is it for the reason that, again completely coincidentally, the company Agrokor from Zagreb is the owner of the majority package of shares in both Ledo and Fricom?
Somewhere in early June, we learn from Freecom that the until then anonymous person is none other than Andy Harmer, an actor who gained a reputation in Great Britain precisely as a double of our client.
Our office sent a warning letter to Fricom, Agrokor as well as two marketing agencies from Zagreb, Unex and Bruketa & Zinic, which we knew had an active role in the production and media distribution of this illegal campaign.
Our demands were quite reasonable and corresponded to what is usually required in such or similar circumstances from the immediate perpetrators of any illegal act: a) to issue a written statement that they will cease and in the future refrain from any action that offends in any way our client's rights; b) to provide us with copies of letters sent to media houses, through which they advertised illegal advertising, and in which letters they demand the final termination of such campaigns and c) that they themselves (offenders) offer satisfaction/compensation for our client. Also, we asked some of them to express their willingness to make available the originals of the advertising material in question (preparation for the press, master tapes, CDs, etc.). What is important to point out is that with every address we pointed out that there is still a possibility (depending on the attitude of those who receive such a letter) to resolve the situation through a gentleman's agreement and what is equally important - in silence, because in the letter to Agrokor we omitted the request for publication of a public apology to our client in all media in which his rights were violated, which is normally part of the overall request.
The answers received (last 09) are inappropriate and disappointing in every respect. Instead of using the offered opportunity to resolve the essence of the case through negotiations, our opponents decided to, apart from denying any of their responsibility, prolong the whole matter with formal objections, probably trying to gain time (an example of this is the question of the legal representative of one of the opposing parties side "by which we prove that the signature of David Beckham, on a copy of one of the submitted powers of attorney, is indeed the signature of Mr. Beckham, the famous football player, and not some other person from the UK who has the same name and last name"). The objections went further from "that they reviewed the materials used in the campaign, but nowhere found that our client's likeness was used" to the point that our letters were so unfounded that they were "frivolous and that they will consider we are being prosecuted for harassment".
From the very beginning, the intention of our client was, as we previously stated, to achieve, if possible, the so-called friendly agreement, in silence and without media attention. Some journalists had the opportunity to see for themselves that our office, until this moment, refused to make any public statement and/or comment. It is a paradox of its own kind that the representative of the injured party refrains from media attention, thus protecting the possible victim(s), as is the paradox that the public speakers, but all without exception, both in Croatia and Serbia, correctly diagnosed and assessed this case, while on the other side we have Fricom and others, with numerous representatives and consultants, for whom everything is "clean and legal".
It is now obvious that the other party's good will is absent and that further correspondence is pointless. At this moment, our report is on the table of the lawyer Mr. Beckham in England and we expect to receive instructions for the next step as soon as possible.
