Adidas Trade Marks “Jubulani” World Cup Football

Added on : 05 July 2010
Filed under : Trade Marks

When Adidas was developing its new football for the world cup, it would have been hoping that the design would be a huge success and that it would be able to build on the Jubulani name for future sales. Having received a trade mark for the name, which is isiZulu for “celebrate”, just before the FIFA 2010 World Cup began, the company clearly wanted to protect the name given to what is claimed to be the most perfectly round football in the world.

Only a week into the competition, however, and the performance of the ball is coming in for nearly as much criticism as the noise of the seemingly ubiquitous vuvuzela horn, with players, coaches and fans complaining about its unpredictable movement in the air. The ball, which Germany, sponsored by Adidas, has been playing with for some time was only used for the first time by most teams when they arrived in South Africa, and many players are struggling to get used to the way it responds on the pitch. Adidas claims that altitude will affect the way the ball moves more than the design of the ball itself, which is made from just eight panels, and with a grooved texture, which was meant to make it easier for goalies to handle.

At its launch, and on its dedicated website, the Jubulani ball was hailed by Adidas as being predictable for goalkeepers and accurate for strikers – almost exactly opposite to the opinions of many of the players currently using it. In terms of the Jubulani trade mark, Adidas need to protect the name of the ball it has created, but may not be able to reap the long term commercial benefits it was hoping for.

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