Screening the World Cup to serve guests, what should restaurant owners note about copyright?
Talking to Dan Tri reporter, Lawyer Nguyen Van Duy, Director of Hoang Duy and Associates Law Firm, said that for the 2026 World Cup, Vietnam Television (VTV) is the owner of the media copyright of the tournament in Vietnam.
Therefore, if a cafe or restaurant broadcasts the World Cup from a legal source, from official channels or platforms allowed to broadcast in Vietnam, it is basically not considered copyright infringement.
However, broadcasting should be properly understood as a non-commercial public display activity. If this activity is turned into a commercial exploitation event, brand promotion or sponsorship element, the organizer should pay attention to licensing requirements according to the copyright owner's regulations.
What is a non-commercial public display?
According to lawyer Duy, this concept is clearly specified in Decree 17/2023/ND-CP (amended and supplemented by Decree 134/2026/ND-CP) on guidelines for the Intellectual Property Law. Non-commercial public broadcasting can be understood as broadcasting to serve the needs of guests to enjoy the match, not to directly exploit commercial value.
Coffee shops and eateries need to pay attention to some principles: do not charge fees directly or indirectly from watching football; Do not organize sponsored events; Do not use World Cup screening to promote brands, products or services; Do not arbitrarily use images, symbols, or names of the World Cup in commercial communication campaigns.
In other words, if the restaurant only turns on the match from a legal source for customers to watch in the normal service space, the legal risk is lower.
But if you turn the match into a separate business program, sell tickets, call for sponsorship, hang sponsor logos or advertise heavily with World Cup images, this activity may require permission.
What should shop owners do to avoid the risk of copyright infringement?
Lawyers recommend that cafe and restaurant owners use official broadcasting sources, not relaying from pirated links, platforms with unknown exploitation rights or cracked software to broadcast the match for customers to watch.
According to the lawyer, Decree 134/2026/ND-CP has tightened copyright violations in the digital environment, including the illegal transmission and reception of content from unlicensed sources.
Therefore, if a business establishment uses pirated links on the Internet, unofficial applications or unauthorized equipment or software to show the World Cup to serve customers, this behavior can be detected and handled according to current legal regulations.
In addition, you should not advertise in a misleading way that the shop is a unit officially sponsored, accompanied or licensed to organize events by FIFA, VTV or other parties holding the right to organize events.
If you want to organize a fan zone, a large-scale football viewing event, with sponsorship or commercial exploitation, the organizer should contact the authority for instructions on licensing procedures.
Do people watching the World Cup at cafes and restaurants need to worry?
For fans, going to cafes and restaurants to watch football with friends is a normal need. The main legal issues arise with units that organize, present and commercially exploit broadcast content.
Therefore, fans can safely enjoy the World Cup in an exciting atmosphere, as long as the broadcast at that location is done from a legal source and is not associated with illegal commercial exploitation activities.
Lawyer Duy emphasized that sports copyright is increasingly strictly managed. Therefore, food service businesses need to be careful, both creating a civilized football watching space for customers and respecting intellectual property rights and legal exploitation rights of copyright holders.