If you have been filling in the World Cup sticker album, you may have noticed that some national flags and crests do not look quite right. Fans assumed a printing error. It was not.
National federation crests, tournament emblems and in many cases the official flag renderings are protected signs. Using them commercially requires a license. When a license covers some federations and not others, the publisher has two options: leave the space blank, or print a modified version that does not reproduce the protected element.
What is actually being licensed
Three separate layers usually sit on top of each other in this kind of product. The tournament brand and emblem belong to the organizer. Each federation owns its own crest and name. Player image rights are negotiated separately, often through a players association. A sticker album is the visible surface of a stack of contracts.
The lesson for your business
Any product that reproduces someone else brand, badge or design needs a written license with a defined scope: which marks, which territories, which formats, for how long. "We only used it once" and "we gave them credit" are not defenses.
If you are planning a collaboration, a limited edition or a piece of merchandise that features a third-party brand, get the license in writing before the artwork is finalised. Redesigning at the last minute is expensive; being sued after distribution is worse.
What a licence has to look like here
Licensing is where most small brands lose money without noticing, because the agreement is treated as a formality. In Mexico a licence of copyright has to be in writing or it is null by operation of law, and every transfer is onerous and temporary (article 30 of the Mexican Federal Copyright Law).
Then comes the detail nobody reads: if the agreement does not state a term, it is taken to last five years (article 33). A company relying on an open-ended licence signed a decade ago may have had none for the last five years. Computer programs are the only express exception, where the assignment has no time limit (article 103).
For trademarks the equivalent discipline is scope: the licence can only reach the goods and services the mark is actually registered for. Licensing what you did not register is licensing nothing.