In the modern era of sport, a footballer’s influence extends far beyond the pitch. Increasingly, players are leveraging their fame to build personal brands and product lines, and trade mark registrations have become a key tool in that strategy. 

Two recent cases — Cole Palmer’s successful registration of “Cold Palmer” and Erling Haaland’s legal tussle with an opportunistic individual that filed an EU trade mark for “HAALAND” — highlight the growing importance of intellectual property (IP) for high-profile athletes.

“Cold Palmer” 

Chelsea and England star Cole Palmer has now successfully registered the trade mark “Cold Palmer” with the UK Intellectual Property Office [i]. The nickname, born from his goal celebration mimicking a shivering pose, has become synonymous with Palmer’s rise to stardom in the English game. 

Palmer’s registration covers a broad range of goods and services from soaps and snacks to drones and underwater vehicles. Now, one suspects that an official “Cole Palmer” branded underwater vehicle is not at the forefront of the Chelsea attacker’s commercial strategy, but having registered trade mark protection across a broad array of potential goods enables Palmer to control who is authorised to use this mark on merchandise. It is however worth noting that the scope of this protection could be challenged by third parties if there has been no genuine use of the mark for some or all of the protected goods/services for the first five years following completion of the registration procedure.[ii]  

Notably, the application faced opposition from Château Palmer, a French winemaker, due to potential confusion with wine products. Palmer amended his application to exclude wine, though he retained certain rights over other alcoholic beverages. 

In addition to the “Cold Palmer” mark, Palmer’s company (Palmer Management Limited) owns existing registrations for “Cole Palmer” and an image of his signature. There are also other pending applications, including a motion application for his shiver celebration [iii] and a black and white image of the Chelsea star [iv]. 

This positions Palmer alongside many other footballing icons like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Gareth Bale, who have all secured registered trade marks for their names or celebrations. It also raises interesting questions for clubs and sponsors, as the commercial use of these marks by clubs and affiliated third parties would need to be addressed (to the extent not already covered under existing contractual frameworks between the club and player). 

Erling Haaland: a name dispute across borders

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has faced his own trade mark tussles in connection with the use and protection of the “Haaland” brand. 

The Cancellation Division of the EUIPO recently ruled that a European Union trade mark for the word “HAALAND” filed by a Polish individual (covering an array of products such as watches, sporting articles and even yogurts) must be declared invalid. Mr Haaland had claimed that the EUTM was filed in bad faith, since he was already a famous professional football player at the date of its filing, and the individual in question knew (or should have known) that by filing an application to register “HAALAND” he was infringing his trade mark rights. 

The EUIPO ultimately agreed with this analysis and upheld the request to cancel the trade mark, noting that “the EUTM was filed deliberately with the purpose of creating an association with the applicant’s name in order to benefit from its attractive force” [v]. Despite the Polish individual protesting his innocence and claiming he had no knowledge of world football, the EUIPO stated that it was “inconceivable” that he had not been informed of Erling Haaland’s existence and the fact that he was already a professional footballer whose talent was recognised internationally. 

This decision reinforces the principle that fame and genuine commercial intent can outweigh opportunistic registrations. However, whilst Erling Haaland ultimately succeeded here, this was based on having to demonstrate bad faith on the part of the earlier trade mark owner (which is not always straightforward). A pre-existing portfolio of registered trade marks across the UK/EU for the “Haaland” brand for relevant goods/services would have been a more straightforward basis upon which to challenge this activity. 

The bigger picture: IP strategy in sport

These recent cases therefore highlight the importance of proactive IP management for athletes, especially as their name, image and likeness become valuable commercial assets. Registered trade marks offer a way to control commercial use, prevent unauthorised exploitation, and create new revenue streams through licensing and merchandising. 

Whilst many athletes are increasingly recognising the value of their personal brands and taking legal steps to protect them, lessons can be taken from the recent experiences of Cole Palmer and Erling Haaland. In particular: 

• A creative approach to trade mark portfolios can maximise future commercial opportunities and enforcement rights in relation to an athlete’s personal brand. This might involve filing marks to protect names, signatures, nicknames, celebrations and similar brand assets that hold commercial value. 

• As the UK/EU trade mark system is based on a “first to file” principle, registering key trade marks at an early stage of an athlete’s fame and career trajectory can help to avoid the challenges of having to rely on bad faith further down the road to cancel opportunistic third party registrations that might otherwise present an obstacle to protecting their brand.