Maradona wins a lawsuit against Dolce&Gabbana

If up to today we have been used to seeing football shirts appear on catwalks around the world, perhaps this trend may soon finish. Or at least in Italy. Yesterday the Court of Milan in fact condemned Dolce&Gabbana designers to compensate Diego Armando Maradona for 70,000 euros, in addition to 13,000 by other legal interests, for having used a light-blue jersey with the name and number 10 of the Argentine champion in a fashion show organized in the streets of San Gregorio Armeno in Naples, in 2016. 

The ruling relating to the "undue use" and "exploitation of the name for commercial purposes" could therefore become a true law case of reference, as declared by the same lawyers "an unprecedented jurisprudential precedent in the matter of the rights to use the name and image of footballers and sportsmen in general".

The shirt was never put on sale, thus avoiding that it could be merchandise without any prior consent, and considerably limiting the final damage that, according to Maradona's lawyers amounted to almost one million Euro. According to the prosecution it was speculative marketing aimed at appropriating the image of D10S and of 'attractive components inherent in the recall to the prestigious sports history of the mythical footballer'. As stated by the Milan court judge Paola Gandolfi:

'The name of Maradona conveys (...) particular suggestions of historical charm and football excellence. Third-party entrepreneurs may not be permitted to use them without the consent of the entitled party'.