The São Paulo Court of Justice granted an injunction to suspend the action of the “naming rights” law, sanctioned last week by the capital’s mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB). The decision was made by the judge on duty Nuevo Campos, in response to a lawsuit filed by the PSOL of São Paulo.
The law that was suspended allowed schools, hospitals, squares and other public facilities to be “renamed” upon payment and the party filed a direct action of unconstitutionality in the TJ alleging that the City Hall is commodifying public space by allowing the “sale” of names.
To Estadão, São Paulo City Hall informed that the municipality was not informed of the action.
The judge’s understanding was that the matter requires an appropriate bidding process, and also considered the “complexity of the topic” and possible effects that may arise from the validity of the law.
Three PSOL parliamentarians signed the action: federal deputy Luciene Cavalcante, state deputy Carlos Giannazi and councilor Celso Giannazi, all from São Paulo.
They state that the consequence of the law could be “irreversible material damage” with the loss of identity and collective memory of these spaces. Parliamentarians also mention that institutional advertising must have an educational, informative or socially oriented nature, according to the federal and state constitutions.
With the “naming rights” law, companies could pay to have the name of their brands or products added to the original name of public structures in the city, as is already the case in São Paulo subway stations and football stadiums.
The law, approved in October by the City Council and now suspended, had not yet been regulated to establish contract values.
Allianz Parque, for example, is the naming right of the Palmeiras stadium and was sold for R$300 million in 2014. The club receives around R$15 million per year, with the contract extending until 2034.
This week, the São Paulo club forwarded an agreement with Mondelez, a multinational food conglomerate that owns chocolate brands such as Bis, Sonho de Valsa and Oreo, for the sale of naming rights to the Morumbi stadium. The company will pay around R$75 million to São Paulo for the three-season agreement. Morumbi will be called “Morumbis”, in reference to the chocolate brand.
Source: CNN Brasil
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