yese another blow to Barcelona’s finances is coming, as the Munich Patent Courtin Germany, ruled that the use of the edge advertising technology of Supponor by Barcelona is illegal, in a sentence that can have far-reaching consequences for the Blaugrana.
Since 2019, Barcelona has shown the world Virtually modified perimeter advertising: Spanish viewers see ads for Spanish beer on perimeter boards, while in China viewers see Chinese beer. Thanks to this advertising technology, the Catalan team has been able to take advantage of the multimillionaire business of regional sponsorships to increase their much-needed income.
But the supplier of Barça, an Anglo-Finnish company called Supponorhas been found guilty of steal the technology from its Swiss competitor AIM Sportwhich in turn works with Real Madrid and Sevilla.
The patent
The German court (case ID: 7 O 13502/20) found that Supponor infringed AIM Sport’s European patent, EP 32 95 663, which covers “digital superimposition of one image with another image”. The judges sentenced Supponor to suspend sales, pay damages, provide information and destroy the products in Germany. Clubs that previously used Supponor’s technology are now responsible for any profits they have made using illegal technologywhich industry experts estimate in more than 10 million euros per club per year.
30 million
With the banning of the technology stolen from Supponor and the arrival of the case in Spain, Barcelona will not only lose valuable income from its regional sponsorsbut may also be responsible for more than 30 million in damageswhich further exacerbates the financial crisis of the Catalans.
