Sport and Intellectual Property Rights


Intellectual Property Rights (IPs) (Patents, Industrial Designs, Trademarks, Copyright, etc.) Typically related to industry, typically manufacturing. IP rights grant exclusivity to IP owners for a limited period of time. Sports organizers, however, use IP law to take advantage of the interest in each sport.

Sports activities started as a hobby or a pastime event for participants to enjoy the sport or exercise. Now, certain games have turned into huge international events, or rather, with appropriate international companies, with their own "custom" laws. Such international events are also a challenge for the sovereign laws of the countries.

Popular games such as football, golf, tennis, basketball, cricket, sailing, racing, and so on. for the organizers. Popular games such as FIFA (football), PGA (golf), NBA (basketball) etc. Its organizers organize and handle events, typically international competitions, to extract the most from others

Organizers originally created a distinctive logo, logo, or phrase to identify the event. If the logos or logos are original, copyright is also protected

For example, the 2010 FIFA World Cup logo is protected as a trademark and copyrighted artwork. "2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa", "2010 FIFA World Cup", "2010 World Cup", "Football World Cup" and similar derivatives are also protected against unauthorized use and according to the applicable laws of different jurisdictions .

As the logo / logo / sentences ("event identifier") largely support the major media, they quickly and easily connect to the event to the public and gain a strong trademark value. Event organizers then use the trademark value for other businesses.

Let's look at different revenue streams for organizers. The first revenue line is sponsorship fees. This includes the right to display a sponsor's trademark at the venue of the games / stadium, the right to use the event ID on sponsored articles, or the right to use the event ID for a service (eg Banking, Credit Card (VISA), Business Process Outsourcing (Mahindra Satyam) (eg, a brand of luxury clothing next to the boxes next to the golf courses)

The second revenue line is the gateway collection and we can also sponsor the printing of the tickets – the sponsorship mark

The third source of revenue is the exclusive product offering such as football, tennis ball, badminton (badminton), fuel and lubricants (racing) etc. The article supplier has the right to describe himself as an "official supplier" to promote his article and advertise himself for such articles to exclude alternative provider. Ironically, though Adidas was one of the top-level sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Nike has attracted more attention of the viewers' attention, like football boots for players, whether through clever advertising points. This is the Adidas poor sponsorship strategy

It is the fourth source of revenue and an ever-growing source of income, with the exclusive right to record and broadcast television and radio events and on the internet in the near future. Broadcasting rights apply to regional and national broadcasting networks. All copyrights related to the recording and broadcast of games are retained by the organizers or are authorized for specific entities.

Eventually, organizers grant producers exclusive rights to sell and sell merchandise or products bearing event ID, royalty payments

Organizers have a wide range of revenue streams, namely:

1. Sponsorship fees

2. Door collection

3. The exclusive rights of use of the product at the event

4. Broadcast Rights

5. Merchandising rights

In addition to the event organizers, other vendors and service providers also take advantage of sponsorship of sportswear and playthings for particular groups or players. See the player's shirt, shorts, caps, gloves, shoes, socks, etc. Brand. In South Africa, the non-sponsored branded shoes worn by players were equally (even if not) one of the official sponsors. Have you ever seen smooth pilots in a racing car driver? On the contrary, the driver's overall, including the helmet, is often involved with the trademarks.

Even sponsored by the player during the game, refreshes / drinks with total ad value. Here, the trademark ad does not promote the product, such as a TV commercial, but the trademark or product is inherently linked to a successful player. What other persuasive message can you produce if not for a world-class player who uses the advertiser's product?

With the exception of gamers, especially gaming players, for sports and non-sports goods or services or businesses. For example, Tiger Woods not only supports golf clubs, balls, T-shirts, caps, but also supports watches, counseling services and personal hygiene products (Note: later suspended after the offenses); Maria Sharapova, one of the most popular women's tennis players, including shoes and clothing, cameras and watches; and footballer Ronaldinho signed a contract with Pepsi, Nike and Sony.

To maximize revenue from revenue sources, organizers of large-scale tournaments such as FIFA should strictly enforce and enforce their trademark rights without the consent of the organizer. Unless the organizers do the rigorous action against the offenders, it is unlikely that they will direct a high sponsorship rate for future events, not to mention a possible breach of the sponsorship contract.

Unfortunately, IP laws are not designed for such intermittent international events. Many manufacturers or providers want to associate with outstanding international events that bring the television audience in billions, but they have no opportunity or can afford fees and costs. So they try to associate their products / services with the event without the consent of the event organizer. Here comes the "trap marketing". Event organizers have a day in the field where they are playing against such marketers. But how good a particular event or advertisement is to marketing is not clear under traditional IP law. To avoid this, countries, especially host countries, are often obliged to adopt special laws to cope with marketing the trap before they have been given the opportunity to receive the event. London's London Olympics and Paralympic Games had to be made in London in 2006 before the 2012 London Olympics. "London 2012" is a trademark protected.

The next question is how and how they spend the event revenue, say 2010 FIFA World Cup. Who benefits from the revenue? This will be the subject of another day for another day.

Note: Trademarks and designs referenced in this article belong to their respective owners. The author does not require any ownership rights; is used purely for educational purposes.

Source by Kandiah P

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