The Uruguayan Indoor Soccer Federation has once again obtained a victory in the judicial arena when a new failed attempt by the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) to overturn the ban imposed on it to use the word futsal for all types of purposes in Uruguayan territory, which is the exclusive power of the aforementioned Federation, was aborted.
The digital platforms of the World Futsal Association to which the Uruguayan Federation is attached, disclosed the information of the new victory in this long and unique litigation by its Uruguayan affiliate, stating that the Uruguayan Futsal Federation "won the second instance ruling against CONMEBOL... as it had already done in April in a lawsuit filed for the use of the word "futsal" in the Libertadores Cup held in Florida in 2021."
The claim also alludes to the "damage due to injury to the distinctive power of the brand" caused by the "undue exponential reproduction" of the same in various media, as if it were a private label or a generic term, which resulted in "the loss of the distinctive value that the brand possesses."
The legal basis argued highlights that since Law 17,011 does not establish criteria to define a distinction between trademarks, it is necessary to resort to doctrine (Siegbert Rippe and Mario Daniel Lamas are cited) and jurisprudence to do so, which offer a host of elements tending to elucidate the issue.
As a result of this new ruling, CONMEBOL must pay the Uruguayan Futsal Federation the sum of 350,000 US dollars as compensation, and may not continue to use the term in Uruguayan territory in the future.
