Chinese entrepreneur trademarks Zidane headbutt

[T_i_B]

:eyes:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,1837502,00.html

A Chinese entrepreneur has registered the image of Zinedine Zidane's notorious headbutt as a trademark for beer and hats under the name Tietougong (Iron Head Kung Fu). Zhao Xiaokai, the general manager of a sports publicity company, says he is in negotiations to sell the black and white logo to brewers and clothing companies.

The trademark is a silhouette of the point of impact between the French midfielder and Italian defender Marco Materazzi. "As soon as I saw the headbutt, I could feel the commercial opportunities," said Mr Zhao, whose company is called Flying to Infinity Sports Culture Diffusion. "This was the talking point of the World Cup seen by billions of people."

Mr Zhao spent three days with designers on the image, which is in silhouette so that he will not be accused of infringing the portrait rights of the players or the national teams. After registering the trademark for beer, hats, shoes and clothes at a cost of 2,000 yuan (£150), Zhao put the logo up for auction online for 1m yuan.