It’s beginning to feel like Jose Mourinho will never be announced as new Manchester United manager.
The successor to Louis van Gaal’s short-lived throne has yet to be officially announced, and despite personal terms reportedly being agreed between Jose Mourinho and the club, the deal has been stalled because of issues over sponsorship.
However, Jaguar aren’t the only ones holding up Mourinho’s welcome party, according to the BBC.
This is what's taking the time… https://t.co/YkjwR2HYj6
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOE_UK) May 25, 2016
Another issue is that Chelsea have registered both the name Jose Mourinho and his signature as a European trademark, meaning they can use his famous name to sling merchandise.
Sports lawyer Carol Couse told BBC Sport this is a “really unusual” situation.
“Chelsea could be earning revenue every time someone uses Mourinho’s name. It could prevent United from exploiting his signature.”
“One of the things United will be looking to acquire is not only Mourinho’s image but also his name.”
“If United had a brand of Mourinho clothing it would be in breach of the trademark Chelsea currently own.”
Couse suggested a number of ways Manchester United can fix this issue. United could pay Chelsea for a licence so they can use Mourinho’s name for their merchandise, they could ask Mourinho to buy the trademark back, they could just not use Mourinho’s name against the list of  merchandise items that Chelsea have registered or they could challenge trademark if they can prove it has not been used by Chelsea.
“If Chelsea didn’t grant a licence, every time United used Jose Mourinho’s name in a commercial capacity against those products, Chelsea could sue Manchester United. I would suspect United would rather just pay a licence fee,” said Couse.
