How far can trade marks go in protecting a sports star's personal brand?

Brazilian footballer João Pedro has joined other sportspeople like Cole Palmer and Usain Bolt in seeking trade mark protection for elements of his “personal brand”.

Quoted in various media outlets, the striker reports that following discussions with headphone manufacturer Beats, the company designed a logo to reflect his personality, which now features on his much-photographed personal customised Beats headphones. From here, Sr. Pedro looked at ways to protect his professional identity, and has sought registration of a number of trade marks, potentially taking inspiration from his Chelsea teammate Cole Palmer, who did the same in 2024.

A footballer will generally move through multiple clubs in their careers, potentially across multiple countries, and by building a personal following they may generate additional sponsorship and merchandising opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise arise. Their active footballing career will inevitably be time-limited, and promoting their personal brand during that career may also lead to further opportunities after a sporting retirement.

Three trade marks have been applied for: the word mark JOÃO PEDRO, the JP Logo apparently created by Beats, and a figurative mark depicting a man in Sr. Pedro's celebration pose. Both figurative marks are shown below. These have been filed in the UK, claiming priority from earlier corresponding EU registrations. 

Source: https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/019370173 and https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/019370255

Whilst it’s entirely commendable that a sportsperson would look to protect elements of their public persona, these filings do raise some questions:

• The JP9 logo has been protected, but not the word mark. This logo, whilst unique, is also fairly abstract, to the extent that many would only decipher the elements of the mark if told they are there. I would have expected the word mark to be protected also, particularly as Sr. Pedro’s comments suggest it carries value to him. 
• In Sr. Pedro’s own words, the JP9 logo was designed by Beats in the course of their discussions. It’s unclear whether this relationship was business-based, with Sr. Pedro acting as a brand ambassador for example, or was it simply the purchase of a personalised pair of headphones? By extension, if the logo was designed by Beats, does Sr. Pedro own the copyright, or do Beats?
• The EU registrations that form the basis of priority claims in the UK also each form the basis of a Madrid Protocol application (according to the EU register). These are presumably newly-filed as details are not yet available on either the EU or WIPO registers, but is the Applicant, as a UK-registered company, with a Brazilian Director  and a Brazilian shareholder both domiciled in the UK, entitled to use the EUIPO as an Office of Origin? Only if the Applicant has a “real and effective industrial or commercial establishment” in a Member State of the European Union, since it does not appear to meet the other entitlement criteria.
• Turning to the “pose” figurative mark, does it protect the pose itself? Arguably not. The scope of protection under a figurative mark is limited to its overall composition, which in this case is a cartoon-like drawing of a man striking the pose. It is not a photograph of Sr. Pedro adopting the pose, or a movement mark protecting the sequence of adopting the pose. What has been protected here is essentially a figurative-only logo, and genuine use of this trade mark would require it to be applied to goods, their packaging, or to promotional materials in relation to the services covered by the applications. Perhaps that is the plan, and we’ll be seeing this posing character on clothing, drinking bottles and watches in due course.

It’s always interesting when someone looks to protect elements of their “personal brand”, much of which is difficult to define within the confines of trade mark filing systems. The people who have tried to do so may not all have fully achieved their goal, but it is projects like these that will contribute to the evolution of filing systems in time, probably enabled by new technologies as they develop. 

Who knows, maybe one day it will actually be possible to register a personal brand as a concept. What we do know is that even for the most technologically-advanced Registries, it would still take many years for the law and procedure to be updated, even after technology exists to display that “brand” properly on a trade mark register.

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“After conversations with [headphone company] Beats about my Brazilian heritage and my vision for celebrating JP9, they designed a logo that reflects who I am, both on and off the pitch. “That logo now features on my custom Beats headphones, bringing the JP9 identity to life beyond football. From there, I sat down with my team to look at how we could protect that identity, including my goal celebration. I have trademarked both JP9 and my celebration.

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