FIFA will have to compensate the inventor of the referee spray for the punishments

A Brazilian court ruled in favor of Heine Allemagne, after years of legal battles and appeals

ROME – Heine Allemagne has been waiting for this moment for twenty-four years: the Brazilian Federal Court of Justice has rejected FIFA’s latest appeal and, after seven years of legal disputes, has decided that it will have to pay it. He is the inventor of the spray that referees use to mark the distance of the barrier on free kicks on the field. That sort of shaving foam that vanishes after a while, and which serves to prevent the players in the barrier from stealing centimeters from the hitting point.

Fifa used the invention patented by the Brazilian inventor for the first time in 2000 during the 2013 Club World Cup, and then at the World Cup a year later. He had promised 40 million dollars to acquire all the rights to the spray. Except that after the change of power from Sepp Blatter to Gianni Infantino, the International Football Federation backed down and continued to market the spray worldwide without Heine’s consent.

The Brazilian Federal Court then ruled that FIFA prevented Heine from profiting from his product. “It’s a story of David against Goliath. FIFA is a giant, it took 23 years of battles,” Heine exulted after the verdict was announced. FIFA had also started another lawsuit to revoke Heine’s patent and thus invalidate the compensation process. But even in this case she was defeated.