The relationships between english champion and the modest Santiago City they narrow. Although at first the Manchester team threatened to sue the Las Condes teamfollowing the last meeting, held this Monday, that scenario has changed.
This is how he explained it to Sporting the lawyer of the Chilean institution, Christian Berndtwho commented on the scope of the meeting with his peers from the team owned by the Emirati royal family. “We had one last meeting with the manchester city lawyers. We came to the conclusion that there would be no name change for the Santiago City club, despite the fact that it was their intention.” assured the representative of the City of the capital.
He also confirmed that the representatives of the City Group -which also has teams in New York, Montevideo, Melbourne, among other cities- are fully aware of the sports results of the pink and black box: undefeated leader in North Group of Third B. “In the British club they were plain and interested in the social and sports project. Surely, they found out through the press, because They were very aware of the team’s football campaign”announced the lawyer of the Chilean City.
However, one of the situations that most bothered the Manchester institution was the resemblance between the logos of the Las Condes team and those used by the City Group teams.
Precisely, one of the agreements reached at Monday’s meeting was the promise of the national club to change its shield, at least in the medium term.
“Small modifications will be made to the shield of our club in order to maintain good relations. The typeface will be similar, but not the same as the British painting. It has different and technically diverse densities. In addition, a kind of gray scarf will be placed on our logo, which differentiates the typical City circumference”Berndt assured.
A conversation that was held in such close terms that even the Santiago City board extended an invitation to the sports management of the British cast to witness the final phase of the fifth category championship.
“Manchester City’s lawyers were satisfied and the English club’s sports manager was invited to come and see the playoffs of the Third B, with the stay paid by our club. They agreed to answer the invitation to see when they would come to Chile”, said the lawyer.
In the same way, the SanCity representative added a reason that might speed up the rapprochement. “It seems that they saw a tweet in which it was reported that Fernando Felicevich was supposedly interested in the team. However, that is not so. In this scenario, the lawyers said that the English club wants to see the Santiago City project in more depth. We are first in the division, undefeated and they want to know more regarding what we are doing”, he stated.
In February, the scenario was radically different. In that month, the English club directly accused the Chilean of “Unauthorized use of trademark and characteristic design”. A body of lawyers from the British squad contacted the nationals to notify them of the action. “Our client has asked us to contact you as he has noticed that you are using the team sign”is explained in the notification, which gave him until Monday the 14th of the same month to answer it.
“Recently a press release has been published in which it specifically mentions that the Santiago City name was adopted in a direct attempt to imitate Manchester City and to the other teams belonging to the City Football Group”, reads the letter.
The SanCity badge was precisely the object of greatest concern. “Manchester City are concerned that their brand and especially the device they are currently using on the market is likely to create market confusion. and is associated with our client’s brands and goodwill, as well as leading the public to believe that Santiago City has become part of the City Football Group, which is not correct. Consequently, the device you are using cannot co-exist with the Manchester City trademarks and our client has the right to protect its position by enforcing its industrial property rights.”, adds the document.
Regardless of the fact finding, the warning was clear. “Manchester City intends to exercise to the fullest extent all legal rights and actions to restore and protect its trademarks, copyrights and goodwill,” the British said.
In that sense, the request was also specific: “Cease use of or any other confusingly similar sign on all products, services, packages, and promotional materials, including the Internet and social media.and insisted that he should “commit in writing not to reuse the requested or registered trademarks, including devices similar to or that include the characteristic graphic elements from this design any other confusingly similar to the members of the City Football Group”.
