Cole Palmer v French vineyard is football’s latest random copyright battle

SOUR GRAPES

Victoria Beckham taking on and losing against Peterborough United in a battle over the nickname “Posh”. Cristiano Ronaldo trademarking the combination of his initials and shirt number, “CR7”, to boost his brand. Kylian Mbappé nabbing the rights to his iconic crossed-arms goal celebration when it almost certainly would have been far more lucrative to seize ownership of that ubiquitously annoying “cry more” gif so beloved of dullards on several Social Media Disgraces. In a football business already swamped with cash and opportunists eager to get their mitts on as much of it as they can, it ought to come as no surprise that the very top players, clubs and Peterborough try to maximise their income by making their personal “brands” off limits to potential counterfeiters, bootleggers and other ne’er-do-wells.

It seems a certain Cole “Cold” Palmer is the latest to get his legal team on the case, after it emerged the Chelsea midfielder (or more likely his Mr or Mrs 15%) instructed them to apply to trademark his famous “shivering” goal celebration and nickname. Quite apart from the fact that he nicked the former from a teammate and nobody calls him by the latter, Football Daily can’t possibly see Team Palmer hitting any snags when their case is considered by the Intellectual Property Office, who will decide whether to grant them the rights to hawk overpriced trainers, cologne, toys, drinks and other branded tat to gullible Chelsea and England fans. At least we couldn’t until we discovered a French winery had lobbed a £2,166 bottle of Château Palmer, 3ème Cru Classé into the works by blocking his application.

Founded in 1814 when the British army officer, Charles Palmer, bought the vineyard from previous owner Madame Gasque and changed its name, Château Palmer has challenged young Cole’s bid to lend his name and image exclusively to alcoholic beverages, presumably on the grounds that they were flogging wine a full 139 years before he first showcased the celebration he appropriated from Morgan Rogers at Kenilworth Road. Lawyers at the IPO will now adjudicate after receiving legal representations from both sides and in the course of their deliberations may or may not chuckle at the irony of the fact that one particular drop sold by the French vineyard glories in the name Alter Ego. Billed as being “elegant and velvety with a wonderful capacity to age and evolve”, this fruit-driven and lively Margaux sounds identical to the footballer with whom Château Palmer are currently going to war. Rather than enter into conflict, a lucrative collaboration really ought to be on the cards.

LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE

It’s a pwopa Lah’n derby this Friday night. Join Scott Murray for live Premier League updates from West Ham 0-0 Chelsea (8pm BST kick-off).

skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Football Daily Free daily newsletter Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion

QUOTE OF THE DAY

I don’t want any players who don’t want to come to the club. If they don’t want to come here and wear this fantastic badge, we don’t want them here. That’s very clear, and I imagine the fans feel exactly the same” – Thomas Frank makes a gossamer-veiled reference to Eberechi Eze and also channels the spirit of teenage Football Daily, who was delighted to be dumped and didn’t want to go out with them anyway.

View image in fullscreen Always Frank: yes, we’re going to bleed this particular pun dry. Photograph: Chloe Knott/Tottenham Hotspur FC/Shutterstock

I was about to send you a witty email but got a better offer from a rival at the very last minute” – Nigel Sanders.

It had passed me by that Everton had decided against a lucrative stadium sponsor and chosen to name their new ground after Benny Hill and David Dickinson. An odd combination but I’m sure they could do a better job for the Toffees up front than their current strikers” – Martyn Shapter.

Following on from Noble Francis’s letter yesterday, might I suggest that a more appropriate shirt sponsor for Nottingham Forest could be the broadband providers who go by the name of Cuckoo?” – Paul Taverner.

Regarding OGC Nice’s new third kit: I think it is a rather nice ‘clin d’oeil’ [wink – Google Translate Ed] towards their close neighbours 13km away. Imagine wearing a Robinhood sponsored kit in the principality of Monaco” – Yannick Woudstra.

If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Martyn Shapter. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.

MOVING THE GOALPOSTS

In the latest edition of our sister email, Eveliina Summanen gets her chat on with Suzanne Wrack about how she is backing Spurs to surge up the WSL table now they have a new manager in charge.

RECOMMENDED BOOKING

On Thursday 11 September, join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and Football Weekly favourites Jonathan Wilson, Nicky Bandini and Jonathan Liew for an evening of unfiltered football punditry at Troxy in London. The pod will also be livestreamed globally. Book now.

Click here to read article