A Spaniard claims to be the true inventor of VAR, sues FIFA and demands 300 million euros

When the pass began, was the receiver ahead? VAR solves it. When this system was implemented to address refereeing deficiencies, was it already patented under another name? Justice will define it after the Spaniards Francesco López filed a complaint with FIFA for plagiarism and a compensation request of 300 million euros.

“The VAR system was the project called ‘Football of the 21st century’, everything is recorded as a whole. “The only thing they’ve done now is give it another name,” López told Spanish newspaper AS in 2017. In that interview, the current complainant provided the details on which he based his request.

The conflict is not new. According to López’s documents, supported by documents that would certify their paternity, they date back to the last months of the last millennium. Another world, another football, but apparently the same need to correct the refereeing error with an offside, a penalty or any regulatory issue that determines the outcome of a football match.

“The development was done according to my project. I registered it in the General Register of Intellectual Property in 1999 and its subsequent extension was registered in 2006.“indicates the Spaniard who gives an account of the authenticity of the papers of his invention.

But it has more. Ensure that it is the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) AND FIFA They are aware of the situation: they treasure the exchange of emails with both entities. A round trip with which López will certainly demonstrate that the management knew of his paternity before the system was tested starting in 2010 in the Netherlands.

“The first time I sent it to him was in 1999, then every year until 2007. “I maintained constant communication for a long time with former referee José María García Aranda, (Ángel María) Villar’s right-hand man in FIFA and one of FIFA’s main referees.”López explained it.

The last seven years have been unsuccessful attempts to have the invention of VAR recognized and to be able to receive compensation for using the system in the majority of world championships and continental or FIFA-organised competitions. For this reason he made a presentation before Justice.

After seven years of trying to obtain recognition, he has decided to raise the issue to the point that this Tuesday a judge will hear the parties to decide whether to temporarily ban the use of VAR in football until the substance of the conflict is resolved.

The Commercial Court n. 6 of Madrid will now have to evaluate whether to apply a precautionary measure and there is a possibility that he will ban the use of the system until the guilty and innocent have been established. In this case it can have a global impact.

The Argentine case

FIFA has already faced a similar case due to the use of aerosol with which referees mark the place where the ball and the wall should be in free kicks and thus avoid overtaking. The inventor of the system – actually the evanescent aerosol foam that is usually used at carnival – is the Argentine Pablo Silvawho after many years obtained a ruling in their favor for improper use of the product.

“Do you want to win 20 million dollars now or 40 million after the World Cup?”Silva said Clarion what he asked Giulio Grondona the day he showed him how the “9.15 spray” would work. The process continued in the hands of Don Julio and in Brazil 2014 the foam made its World Cup debut.

However, shortly after that World Cup, Grondona died and FIFA did not respect the agreement made and continued to use the system. The first judicial request was for 40 million dollars, what the FIFA vice president had promised, but the figure grew due to patent infringement, fines and the spread of pirated trademarks.

In 2017, Justice recognized the complaint and banned FIFA from using the spray, as well as setting a fine of 15 thousand dollars for each game in which it was used. However, the Zurich-based organization did not comply with the decision and asked the judge for permission to use another brand of aerosol at the World Cup in Russia.

With these accounts, if after FIFA’s appeal the sentence will be final Silva is expected to pocket around $120 million. “It won’t be long before we give him the final bow.”Silva also told Clarín, who is waiting for the end of the trial to collect his compensation.