Close to 500 individuals and companies have registered "illegal" websites with the words South Africa 2010 and FIFA World Cup with the aim of capitalising on the world's biggest sporting event.

LOC legal representative Don MacRobert, of Adam and Adam, said two websites had already been shut down and many more face the same fate.

"We are aware that there are already more than 500 illegal website domains with the names World Cup, 2010, FIFA, and South Africa on them," MacRobert, an intellectual property lawyer acting on behalf of the LOC told City Press this week.

"We don't mind if they remain dormant but once they are activated we will deal with them," he said.

MacRobert added that SAFA and LOC have also stepped up their drive to protect their Cup rights which include logos, emblems and trademarks.

Nicolas Maingot of the FIFA media office said his organisation was aware of unscrupulous operators who had registered domains containing words that were the property of the world governing body.

FIFA warned last week: "Where a company uses FIFA's trademarks in a domain or uses any other intellectual property right of FIFA (trademarks, designs, copyright) in the content of their website for commercial purposes without FIFA's authorisation and without a legitimate reason, FIFA will take appropriate action."

Monitors new registrations

Maingot said Fifa monitors new domain registrations around the world each month.

There are a huge number of domains that are in existence which contain multiple different variations of FIFA World Cup 2006 and 2010 in them, added Maingot.

"FIFA has had significant experience over recent years with domain names and websites concerning FIFA's events. We have adopted a policy which we believe successfully balances the needs of fans and traders to share information about FIFA's events on the internet together with the need to ensure that companies do not infringe on FIFA's intellectual property rights."

He said his organisation has registered a number of key domains that are used for FIFA's activities such as www.fifa.com and www.fifaworldcup.com.

"FIFA does not seek to register all possible domain names which include variations of FIFA's trademarks as we are happy for fans and traders to share information about FIFA's events in a legitimate manner. We trust that they respect FIFA's intellectual property rights and do not abuse FIFA rights in their domain names and website content."

from News24.com