Barrier Spray Inventors Win FIFA Trial

The Superior Court of Justice of Brazil has found FIFA guilty of a crime of patent infringement for the illegal use of the spray used by the referees to mark the distance of the barriers. Pablo Silva and Haine Alemagne, the inventors of the aerosol, are waiting for the Brazilian justice to confirm the amount with which FIFA must compensate them (according to expert calculations, it could exceed 100 million euros) and to know what sentence corresponds to the executives involved in the case, among whom is President Gianni Infantino. SAccording to AS has learned, the penalties in Brazil for this crime can be between one and four years in prison for the accused, a penalty that the victims have already requested from the judge.

Silva and Allemagne say that at the end of the 2014 World Cup they had an agreement with former FIFA leaders Julio Grondona and Joseph Blatter for the use of the aerosol in exchange for 40 million dollars, but that after the FIFA Gate scandal and the death of the Argentine president all communication with the agency was lost, which used the spray without complying with the agreement. After a first lawsuit prior to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, a Brazilian judge banned the use of the aerosol, but FIFA also used it under the name of another brand.

Pablo Silva and his partner hired the lawyer Cristiano Zanin Martins two years ago, who achieved the release of former Brazilian president Lula da Silva, and They calculate that the money owed to them adds up to an amount close to 100 million euros, taking into account that for each match that the aerosol has been used since Russia 2018, there is a fine of $ 15,000 for its creators.