Good week sees Gunners score on and off the pitch

Date: 22/05/03

By Martin Banks

ARSENAL, 1-0 winners in last weekend's English Football Association Cup final, are celebrating another victory - but this time in court rather than on the pitch.

The famous North London club has triumphed in the latest round of its long-running legal battle against a fan selling unofficial merchandise bearing the club's artillery gun logo and name.

Last November, 'the Gunners' won a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that it had a right to protect its trademark and Matthew Reed was ordered to stop selling merchandise outside the club's Highbury stadium. But he refused, taking his case to the UK High Court. It overturned the ECJ ruling, declaring that the Luxembourg court had acted beyond its powers.

Arsenal, in turn, took the case to UK Court of Appeal, which yesterday confirmed the ECJ ruling that Reed was infringing the club's trademark. Reed, an Arsenal fan since the 1960s, was ordered to pay legal costs of around €200,000. He now intends to appeal to Britain's highest legal authority, the law lords.

The case has wider repercussions for European football clubs and sportswear manufacturers who fear sponsorship deals could be undermined and millions of euro lost.

UK football club, Arsenal, has won a ruling from the Europea Court of Justice that it had a right to protect its trademark from a fan who was selling the club's merchandise outside the Highbury Stadium.