Heine Allemagne accuses the governing body of world football (FIFA) of violating the patent and asks that use of the technology be suspended in all competitions: "I am David and FIFA is Goliath."
The inventor of the spray used by referees to mark, for example, the area where the ball must be placed at a free kick or where the wall should be, Heine Allemagne, promises to bring to the end a fight with FIFA that he himself defines as "David against Goliath". The 46-year-old Brazilian demands, in short, recognition for the invention of technology and 35 million USD. Heine recently sent a statement to FIFA, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) and all confederations (UEFA, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, AFC and OFC). The document, whose entirety is at the end of the story, requires the suspension of the use of the vanishing spray in all competitions. Contacted by Globo, FIFA did not respond. “I am asking for respect. FIFA did not give me the credit for the spray. They had made several promises, they used us, they commercially took over the project from 2008. After that, they made a gigantic conspiracy, absurd things. What am I doing? I am David and FIFA is Goliath. FIFA threatened to sue me. I made history in world football, and FIFA, in a calumnious way, threatened to sue me. As a Brazilian, you know how we are, we play football. I'm going to have to play football with FIFA", Heine said over the phone. In fact, Heine Allemagne owns the registered patent at the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) for the "foamy spray composition to mark regulatory distance in sports". The concession, under the number PI0004962-0, was given to him in February 2010.
The spray was first used by a referee in the Belo Horizonte Cup of 2000. Two years later, it was adopted by CBF in official competitions; Brazil is therefore the technology pioneer. In 2009, it appeared in Copa Libertadores and in 2013 was tested by FIFA. The 2014 World Cup in Brazil was the first to have referees with this equipment. According to Heine, the initial goal of the project was to help develop football, with financial reward in the background. As much as the first spray cans tested by FIFA, including those used in the 2014 World Cup, were donated by him. FIFA said that after the World Cup, it would buy the project. After the World Cup, they sat down with all the companies, they analyzed the commercial impact of the invention and, in the end, they decided to rob me. That's it, a robbery, a kidnapping - complains the Brazilian, who has incomplete high school and says survive of inventions. In an interview with the site "Uol" in July 2014, before the end of the World Cup, Heine had revealed the goal of selling the project to FIFA. "They have to take this forward," he said at the time.
Credits to another company
Heine Allemagne is said to be upset that he has never been mentioned by FIFA as inventor of the spray. Instead, the entity handed over the credits to the company "PPG Comex" of Pittsburgh, USA - one of the sponsors of Copa America Centenary last year. In a statement issued shortly before the competition held in the USA, the company's CEO said he was happy to help the sport. “PPG Comex has worked hard for many years to enhance football by developing tools that help referees work. This was the case with the Comex Futline spray that will be used in this tournament for the first time”, stated Marcos Achar on the occasion. "They're ignoring the accusations I'm making to them, FIFA has sent us very badly, they conspired. We invented it, and they handed the patent to a multinational company. But this is an already patented spray, an idea conducted constitutionally - recalled the Brazilian.
"FIFA profaned the Laws of the Game book"
Heine defines FIFA's reluctance as a "conspiracy." An anomaly in the Laws of the Game book of the 2017/18 season recently published by the IFAB, he said, is one of the biggest indicators.” FIFA desecrated the rule book, it is boycotting this project, and they want to kill it. Why did they put the spray development in the rulebook only in Spanish and not in the other languages?”, he denounces. In fact, item 5 of the Laws of the Game book (which clarifies the responsibilities of the referee in a football match) in Spanish defines the spray as a referee equipment. In other languages; however, the tool is not mentioned.
Despite his disbelief, Heine believes that the next step is to wait for a response from FIFA, only then, if necessary, to initiate legal proceedings. "I'm going to start a moral debate with FIFA. I have sent this notice so we can sit down and talk like grown-up people. If they do not want to do that and keep insisting on it, I will go for legal action, which is the blocking of assets and everything that is plausible within justice. They will lose. Here we know how to play football, and I am going to play football with FIFA. If I do not get the money, it does not make that much difference. It is obvious that I need it, but it makes no difference. This will just not continue the way FIFA thinks it is", he said.
