Italian football club Juventus won NFT trademark dispute
Juventus successfully won a NFT trademark dispute against Blockeras in the Court of Rome. Blockeras was found guilty of violating Juventus’ trademark rights by creating and distributing trading cards featuring a former player. The court ruled that protection under Class 9 of the Nice Classification covers digital products like NFTs, even if not explicitly listed.
The Italian football club Juventus won one of the first known judgements by a European court regarding non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their clash with early registered trademarks. The Court of Rome determined that Blockeras violated Juventus’ trademark rights by printing and distributing 68 NFT cards.
Juventus filed a lawsuit against Blockeras earlier this year, accusing the fantasy football game platform of infringing its trademarks through NFTs linked to trading cards featuring former Juventus superstar Christian Vieri in a Juventus jersey.
Juventus has requested a temporary restraining order to stop the allegedly infringing conduct. Blockeras has claimed that the football club’s marks protection in class 9 from Nice Classification does not cover NFTs.
The court found that it is unnecessary for NFTs to be mentioned precisely in the list of goods of Nice Classification because other included goods can also cover new digital products.
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