China man registers trademark for Zidane head-butt

BEIJING, Aug 3 (Reuters) A Chinese man is inviting bids of one million yuan (125,400 dollars) for the rights to an image of France captain Zinedine Zidane's infamous head-butt during last month's soccer World Cup final, a newspaper reported today.

Zhao Xiaokai, general manager of a sport-related company, paid 2,000 yuan (250 dollars) to register the trademark -- a silhouette of Zidane head-butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi's chest -- for shoes, hats and beer products, the Beijing Daily said.

''Two days after the World Cup final, I had the idea to register it as a brand,'' the paper quoted Zhao as saying.

Zhao said that he was considering developing his own line of head-butt branded products and that two beer companies had contacted him to discuss buying the rights.

''This recognition level of this trademark is very high.

Using a silhouette to render this image avoids violating the soccer star's image rights,'' Zhao said.

Zhao is not the first to commercialise the moment marking Zidane's inglorious exit from international soccer.

On Tuesday, it was reported that catchy song ''Coup de Boule'' -- French for ''head-butt'' -- had hit number one on France's singles chart.

REUTERS PM BS1201