FAW cashes in on chant trademark
AFTER embedding itself into the heads of every football fan the Welsh Football Association (FAW) is cashing in on Euro 2016’s biggest chant.
Marketing bosses are in the process of trademarking a new logo with the words “Don’t Take Me Home”.
The FAW applied to the Intellectual Property Office to register a Welsh dragon image with the slogan - made famous by Welsh fans singing in France – as an official trademark.
The application itself asks for the rights to use the logo on hundreds of items across 14 trademark categories.
They include: beermats, chequebook holders, table mats and greetings cards to spectacles, sunglasses, umbrellas and walking sticks.
Other items in the vast range include beer, wine, toothbrushes, duvets, brushes and tea cosies.
Companies, organisations and individuals apply to register names and logos as trademarks in order to identify the commercial source or origin of goods and services, and set their business and its products or services apart from those of others.
In 2013 Gareth Bale successfully trademarking a logo featuring his “heart-shaped” goal celebration and shirt number.
It was suggested at the time the move would net the footballer more than £10m a year in merchandise and endorsements.
Trademark owners can enforce their trademarks as a means of preventing others from using identical, or even, in some cases, similar, names and logos.
Two months are allowed from the time the application to register a trademark is published (in this case January 17) for objections to be made to the proposed registration. If there are no objections then registration will be granted.
If there are objections the time is extended by a further month for those objections to be considered and for a decision to be reach on whether or not to allow registration.
However, according to the FAW the breadth of its application doesn’t necessarily mean people will soon be able to buy Don’t Take Me Home branded tea cosies.
Instead the new logo is more likely to feature on T-shirts and other clothing.
Ian Davis, Head of Commercial and Marketing, at the FAW said: “When you trademark something it covers all sorts of things, you do it as standard.
“But doesn’t mean we will be putting it on all those different items.
He added that the FAW were not trying to trademark the phrase “don’t take me home”itself.
Set to the tune of Billy Ray Cyrus’s Achy Breaky Heart the chant was originally adopted by Welsh fans during away games in the qualification stages of Euro 2016.
During the tournament itself the song became an anthem for a number of countries including Northern Ireland and even Sweden.
Ian Davis said: “You can’t trademark the phrase and we wouldn’t try to do that.”
Meanwhile the marketing boss has revealed plans by the FAW to release a range of merchandise items in partnership with the popular unofficial fan retailer Spirit of 58.
Run by Tim Williams, Spirit of 58 already sells a range of clothing and novelty items based on Welsh football.
The brand enjoys cult among Wales supporters.
Ian Davis added: “In the near future we will be releasing a range of items in conjunction with the group Spirit of 58.” status