The negotiations over José Mourinho’s contract with Manchester United have hit a snag over his trademark. Chelsea will demand a settlement of several million pounds to pass on the trademark for him which the club has owned since 2006.
Chelsea owns three separate Mourinho trademarks which are due to expire between 2023 and 2025. If retained, they would prevent United attaching their manager’s name to a wide range of merchandise including teddy bears, after shave, computer games and football boots.
The negotiations over José Mourinho’s contract with Manchester United have hit a snag over his trademark. Chelsea will demand a settlement of several million pounds to pass on the trademark for him which the club has owned since 2006.
Chelsea owns three separate Mourinho trademarks which are due to expire between 2023 and 2025. If retained, they would prevent United attaching their manager’s name to a wide range of merchandise including teddy bears, after shave, computer games and football boots.
The trademark is now worth very little to Chelsea. There are only a handful of Mourinho items on sale at discounted prices in the Stamford Bridge megastore. As they no longer control his image rights, they can no longer reproduce his photograph or voice.
There are a number of potential conflicts of interest in relation to Mourinho’s image rights. Mourinho has a large portfolio of personal endorsement deals with leading brands, some of which clash with United’s own sponsorship arrangements.
United have a seven year sponsorship deal with Chevrolet, while Mourinho has an arrangement with Jaguar. Mourinho has an endorsement with Swiss watch maker Hublot, whereas United have a tie up with Bulova, an American watch company.
United may seek to buy Mourinho out of his current sponsorship deals, while there have been negotiations over the number of days he will devote to commercial work and personal appearances.