Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Can I Post FIFA Soccer Schedules?

Dear Rich: I run a non-commercial blog about soccer and being that the World Cup is less than a week away I would like to publish the schedule for some of the World Cup matches and use the names "FIFA" and "World Cup" (both are protected terms) on my blog. FIFA has released public guidelines, and it stated that "news media" are authorized to publish FIFA marks for non-commercial, editorial use. The big question for me is, as a blogger, am I considered part of the news media? Don't worry about whether bloggers are journalists. You are free to include the marks (even if you run advertising on the same page) because your blogging use is editorial/informational. (This article explains why.) You're also free to run the schedules, scores, and other statistics. If you are risk averse, you can include a prominent disclaimer at your blog stating that you are not associated with or endorsed by FIFA.

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