The link between intellectual property and sports

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THE LINK BETWEEN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND

SPORTS

Shelley E.



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INTRODUCTION

• ‘Sports’ which was considered a recreational activity has truly transformed into a giant commercial organization. Innovation and creativity are key drivers in the world of sport.

• In every sporting field, teams of inventors and creators are working behind the scenes to push the boundaries of possibility, creating new opportunities for athletes/sports persons to better their performance and for broader participation in and enjoyment of sport.

• Sport shows Intellectual Property (IP) in action and the Intellectual Property in turn powers the business of sport.



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SPORTS & IP

• IP lies at the heart of the huge commercial opportunities offered by the world of sport.

• IP rights and the legal protection they give help to secure the economic value of sport.

• This in turn stimulates growth of the sports industry, enables sporting organizations to finance high-profile sports events, and provides the means to promote sports development.

• Business transactions related to sponsorship, merchandising, broadcasting and media deals are all built on IP rights.



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Cntd…

• Sports Franchisees are tapping and capitalizing on various intellectual property rights created by them.

• These Intellectual Properties created are used by the sports franchises in the form of merchandising, advertisements, licenses, online/Computer games, cafes, etc. mainly for creation of brand equity and reputation and to achieve a common end of gaining hefty profits.

• There are various Sports clubs which are perfect examples of IP brand capitalization. – Football teams like Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona– IPL Cricket teams like Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians,

etc.,– Baseball Leagues like Newyork Yankees, etc.



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TYPES OF IP PROTECTION APPLICABLE FOR SPORTS EVENTS

The forms of Intellectual Property that routinely intersects sports events are the following:

•Patent– Patents encourage technological

advances that result in better sporting equipment and other sport-related innovations

•Trademark– Trademarks, brands and designs

contribute to the distinct identity of sports events, teams, players and their gear



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• Copyright– Copyright-related rights generate the

revenues needed for broadcasters to invest in the costly organizational and technical undertaking of broadcasting sports events to millions of fans all over the world

• Designs– Registration of a design gives the owner

protection for the visual appearance of the product, not how it works.



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Cntd…

• Trade Secrets– In sports associations or teams, it is possible

that there is some information which is confidential in nature and confidentiality has to be maintained.

– In India, there is no sepreate statute for protection of trade secrets.

Personality RightsPersonality Right is the right to control the

commercial exploitation of one’s name, image, likeness, or any other aspect of Personal Identity

– Publicity rights of the sports person play an important role in the brand creation of individual sports players and teams



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A sports shoe may be protected by several IP rights:

• Patents - protect the technology used to develop the shoe.

• Designs - protect the “look” of the shoe

• Trademarks - distinguish the shoe from similar products and protect the “reputation” of the shoe (and the company making it)

• Copyright - protect any artwork and audiovisual creations used to publicize the shoe



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Case Study on Olympic Properties

The Olympic Properties:The Olympic properties, in particular the Olympic symbol, are the visual ambassadors of Olympism. The Olympic symbol, seen by millions of people throughout the Olympic Games, is one of the world’s most recognized brands.

People around the world associate them with the fundamental values of sport and of the Olympic Movement. Because of their honored place on the world stage, it is essential that the IOC protect its Olympic properties at the international level.

The IOC benefits from special legal means to do this, but it also relies on ordinary means of trademark protection.



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• This iconic Olympic symbol enjoys special protection under the Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol.

• States that have signed up to the Treaty are obliged to refuse or invalidate the registration as a mark and to prohibit theuse for commercial purposes of any sign consisting of or containing the Olympic symbol, except with the IOC ’s authorization



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The official logo of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games is registyered under the WIPO’s Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks.



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• Numerous countries have adopted permanent national legislation protecting the Olympic properties.

• Although the Olympic Movement’s efforts have contributed to the implementation of legislation, the parliaments that have adopted such measures also understand the importance of sport and the Olympic Movement, as well as the need to protect the properties related to them.

• Adopting specific legislation has also proven necessary in countries that host an edition of the Olympic Games.



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• Such legislation concerns not only the protection of the Olympic properties, but also provides the means to fight against ambush marketing and to regulate advertising, in particular in and around Olympic venues.

• The first specific legislation related to an edition of the Olympic Games appeared in Canada prior to the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games.

• Since the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, all host countries have adopted such legislation; this is also true for future editions of the Olympic Games, such as Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016.



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The Nairobi Treaty

• The IOC also benefits from an exceptional international legal instrument that protects the Olympic symbol.

• Adopted in 1981 and administered by WIPO, the Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol obliges each state that has ratified it to – refuse or invalidate the registration as a

mark and to prohibit the use for commercial purposes of any sign consisting of

or – containing the Olympic symbol, except with

the IOC’s authorization.



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Trademark protection

• The IOC is the worldwide owner of numerous trademarks protecting its Olympic properties.

• While this might seem logical, the IOC had to wait some 100 years before it could register trademarks in its own name.

• Prior to 1993, numerous national trademark laws (including in Switzerland, where the IOC is based) reserved the right to register trademarks only for commercial companies.

• As a non-profit association, the IOC had to wait for the harmonization of European law and the modification of Swiss law such that any entity could register a trademark in its name.



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• The IOC registers trademarks, in particular through the WIPO Madrid system, relating to its permanent properties which are common to each edition of the Olympic Games, such as – the Olympic symbol and the words “Olympic”, – “Olympiad” and “Olympic Games”.

• It also seeks protection for identifiers related to a specific edition of the Olympic Games, such as

• the official emblem of that edition of the Olympic Games

and • the City+Year word mark - for example, “London

2012” and “Sochi 2014”.



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Implementing the IOC’s rights

• In the routine management of its intellectual property (IP) rights, the IOC encounters certain challenges, some of which are described below.

• Internet and social media platforms

– Internet and social media platforms are fantastic opportunities to engage new audiences, especially the young.

– The IOC works closely with social media platforms to prevent unauthorized use of its properties.

– It also closely follows the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) project, opening the door to new extensions of top level domain names, in order to protect its Olympic properties on the Internet.



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• Ambush marketing:– Ambush marketing consists of attempts to create a

false, unauthorized or misleading commercial association

• Some companies that are not official partners try to associate themselves with the unique and worldwide character of the Olympic Games free of charge.

• The creativity of these ambushers makes it necessary to adopt specific national legislation to prevent ambush marketing.

• However, as these laws are in force only in the host territory, the IOC must invoke, in other territories, ordinary legal means to fight ambush marketing, such as trademark registration or unfair competition.

• However, these sometimes do not go as far as the IOC would like.



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• Protection of the City+Year word mark

• In 1993, before Sydney was elected to host the 2000 Olympic Games, a third party filed for registration of all the names of the candidate cities for the 2000 Olympic Games, in numerous countries, and then threatened the IOC partners with legal action if they used these references.

• To prevent such abuses in the future, the IOC subsequently took steps to protect the City+Year identifiers, well before a city is selected to host an edition of the Olympic Games.



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CONCLUSION

The commercialization of sports is so lucrative that the competition among various sports teams/clubs and associations are heaving up and this has eventually lead to the effective protection of their intellectual properties.

If right strategies, investments and judicious management are made by the Sports team in protecting their intellectual property, then the returns they would be expecting out of such exploitation would be in multiple folds.