Hyundai has been promising new car buyers in Brazil one extra year of warranty if the country’s national soccer/football team wins the World Cup this summer for a record sixth time. However, the “Hexagarantia Hyundai” advertising campaign has angered the Brazilian soccer federation (CBF), which claims that the Korean carmaker has breached its intellectual property rights.

The commercial is a play on the word “hexa,” meaning “sixth” in Portuguese, and promises Hyundai will increase its usual five-year guarantee to six on new cars sold between January 1 and July 13 if Brazil wins the World Cup this year for the sixth time.

The CBF asked Hyundai to pull the campaign, as it is using intellectual property that belongs to the organization. However, the commercial doesn’t include the CBF’s logo or any of Brazil’s players, with only the national flag and colors being featured. Their reaction can be better explained if you take under consideration the fact that the CBF’s official car partner is…Volkswagen, and Hyundai’s ad campaign may be seen as an attempt to capitalize on the Brazilian national team’s popularity.

“Our lawyer went directly to Hyundai and told them they are using our property. It’s always a sensitive point but the CBF are the owners of the property,” Rodrigo Paiva, a CBF spokesman, was quoted as saying on Bloomberg. Hyundai is not commenting on the matter, with the commercial still featured on its YouTube account, where it has garnered more than 1,180,000 views.

This is a complicated legal matter, since Hyundai is the official sponsor of soccer’s world governing body FIFA and is allowed to use branding associated with the World Cup tournament. However, the CBF argues Hyundai can’t use references to the Brazil team in its ads. Scroll down to watch Hyundai’s commercial.

By Dan Mihalascu

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