Fifa threatens legal action over local website
The world's football governing body, Fifa, has ordered a popular KwaZulu-Natal 2010 Soccer World Cup website to shut down or face legal action.
Greytown web designer Anton Vosloo, 36, received a letter from Fifa in May informing him that his website infringed its intellectual property rights. He was asked to shut down his site, www.2010-soccer-worldcup.com.
Vosloo, a web designer for his family's safari and game-lodge business in Botswana, designed the website after South Africa won the bid. "When we won . .. we all got excited and thought this was not only about SA but all of the Southern African region," he said.
He decided to launch the private website so that interested organisations could list accommodation services free for tourists attending the soccer spectacular.
But Vosloo told the Sunday Times this week that he was stunned when Fifa ordered him to shut down his website which he described as only a "directory for accommodation".
He said the website had become so popular it had attracted over 90 local and international organisations which had listed its services since its launch three years ago.
Vosloo wrote back to Fifa explaining that his was a non-profit website designed to help tourists with accommodation for 2010 but Fifa would have none of it.
He said he didn't close down the website as he was in Botswana and had only returned to South Africa about a week and a half ago. This week Vosloo received an ultimatum from Fifa to close down or face legal action.
About seven similar websites have already been either closed down or modified by Fifa this year.
David Murray, Fifa's senior legal counsel, defended the ultimatum saying the site could cause the public to believe his firm provided "this official service … which is not the case".
In the letter to Vosloo, Murray said: "We appreciate that you may not have been aware that companies such as yours, which do not have a formal licence to Fifa, cannot use the infringing signs. For this reason, we are writing to explain this to you and to politely request that you immediately refrain from using the domain name and the infringing signs."
He said organising the 2010 World Cup was "extremely expensive" and that its successful staging hinged on the significant financial investment from Fifa's sponsors and licensees.
Vosloo this week reluctantly said he had no choice but to accede to Fifa's demand and has agreed to shut down his website.
"Who am I to go to court with Fifa? I've got to close it down in the next few days," he said.
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