Chelsea legend John Terry looks to have landed in a soup after tweeting about a collection of NFTs that include images of the Premier League Trophies and UEFA’s Champions League And Europa League trophies. Chelsea Football Club is also looking into the posts by the former defender since they include images of the club badge.
Ape Kids Club NFT Collection
The Ape Kids Club NFT collection is an off-shoot of the popular NFT collection, “Bored Ape Yacht Club,” which features a collection of 10,000 digital illustrations. The Ape Kids Club Collection features 9,999 different NFTs available for purchase. The ex-Chelsea defender has been promoting the NFT collection heavily through his social media accounts.
The NFTs, which feature caricatures of baby apes, also features images of the Premier League Trophy, the Champions League Trophy, and the Europa League Trophy. The collection also features images of the Chelsea club badge, all of which are protected by trademark and intellectual property rights.
Premier League And UEFA Less Than Impressed
Terry’s posts on Twitter promoting the NFT collection have attracted the attention of the Premier League, thanks to the presence of the Premier League Trophy in the collection. The trophy is trademark protected, and any use of it in a commercial venture requires signing a licensing agreement with the Premier League.
UEFA has also stated that it is investigating the matter, with the collection also featuring the Europa League and Champions League trophies. In a short statement, UEFA commented,
“Uefa takes the protection of its intellectual property rights seriously, and we are investigating this matter further.”
The FA also released a statement, saying that it is aware of the NFT promotions on Terry’s accounts, which also feature the Community Shield, the England Kit, and the FA Cup.
Chelsea Conducting Its Own Investigation
Chelsea Football Club is also looking into the promotions. The collection uses the club’s logo, kit, and trophies in the artwork infringing several copyrights related to the club, Premier League, FA, and UEFA. Chelsea had recently re-hired Terry in a consultancy role at their academy but have clarified that they are not involved in the sale of the NFT collection being promoted by the former player.
A Popular Collection
The Ape Kids Club has proven to become a fairly popular collection among current and former footballers, with several players having endorsed them and created their own avatars. Former players such as Ashley Cole and Nigel De Jong, while current players including Tammy Abraham, Recce James, Willian, and Marco Veratti have tweeted about the collection, suggesting their involvement.
So far, only UEFA has released a statement regarding the collection, while no comment has been received from Ape Kids Club or their promoters.
A Growing Space
NFTs have seen significant popularity with celebrities and have been promoted by the likes of John Cena, Paris Hilton, and Eminem, and now it looks like Footballers have also jumped on board. However, NFTs have their fair share of critics, calling them a speculative bubble and warning people that they could lose their money investing in them.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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