There were opportunities for businesses other than the official sponsors to benefit from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, a FIFA legal adviser insisted on Monday. But speaking at the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) conference in Johannesburg, David Gill admitted that these opportunities were limited.

FIFA wanted a broad base of South Africans to benefit from the tournament, but it would not allow the use of its intellectual property or any undue association, as it had to protect the long-term value of its commercial rights.

FIFA had been heavily criticised in recent months over the strict trademark and IP rules it had implemented for the event, particularly as it became apparent that there would be limited economic spinoffs from the event.

Gill said that the use of generic symbols of soccer, such as balls or vuvuzelas, as well as associations to South Africa, was allowable under FIFA's guidelines, as long as they bore no direct references to the tournament.

However, the combination of a number of these generic symbols or elements often "infringed on FIFA's IP rights", as it then linked companies other than the official sponsors to the event. This was usually done through "ambush marketing", or by intrusion.

In South Africa, FIFA was protected from ambush marketing by association and by intrusion through the Trade Practices Act and the Merchandise Marks Act, the infringement of which could both be seen as criminal offenses, Gill noted.

But these laws had been implemented long before the 2010 FIFA World Cup had been awarded to South Africa and would remain in force even after the event was concluded.

To enable companies other than the sponsors to do marketing without infringing on FIFA's rights, it had published on its Website a public information sheet containing information on what would be appropriate and what not.

Meanwhile, Gill noted that these types of cases were not uncommon during FIFA World Cup events, noting that it was still in the process of closing some court cases from previous events in other countries.

Further, he also highlighted that these cases were not always only limited to the host nation, explaining that many infringements often also took place in other countries.