Indian board responds to Adidas over endorsements claim

The Indian board has stepped into the court case between sports goods manufacturers Nike and Adidas and said that when players enter into agreements for rights pertaining to their performance on the field while representing Team India, they can only enter those agreements which have been selected and promoted by the BCCI.

In May this year, Adidas dragged Nike to court over the use of Sachin Tendulkar's images in advertisement campaigns. Adidas alleged that Nike were violating Adidas's exclusive personal endorsement agreement with Tendulkar and argued that Nike, who sponsor the Indian cricket team, have the right to use images of Tendulkar only when he is playing for the country. Nike have a five-year contract with the Indian board for the team's on-field uniform.

In its reply to the notice sent by the Monopoly of Trade and Restrictive Practices Commission (MTRPC) over this case, the board said: "BCCI is the body responsible for promotion and administration of the game of cricket in the country and the players who play in matches representing the country do so under the agreement entered into with the BCCI." This means that the endorsement and advertisement rights of players representing India in all international matches has an overriding effect on all other contractual agreements that individual players have with different companies.

The board said that it could not stop Nike from using Tendulkar in its advertisements. "Answering respondent [BCCI] could not ensure that Nike India does not include in such advertisements because it has no control over the affairs of Nike India which is a separate corporate entity," the board responded.

The BCCI also accused Adidas of trying to harass the board "by filing frivolous and baseless proceedings which are not maintainable in law as well as in facts."

The MRTPC bench, hearing the case, asked Adidas and the BCCI to produce documents regarding their rights over Tendulkar by the next hearing which will take place in August.

Nike had earlier responded to Adidas's claims by stating that the case filed by Adidas was not maintainable as the issue raised "arises out of contract". "It is an attempt to thwart the legitimate business activities of this respondent [Nike]. The petitioner [Adidas] is a direct competitor of this respondent," Nike said while questioning Adidas's claims over its right to exclusively use Tendulkar's images in advertisements and promotions.