Intellectual Property and Sports: Essays in Honour of P. Bernt Hugenholtz

Intellectual Property and Sports celebrates the enormous achievements of Professor Bernt Hugenholtz in the field of intellectual property and information law. Renowned intellectual property law expert Bernt Hugenholtz once warned, chiding the voracity of copyright, that reducing the subject matter test to mere originality and personal stamp might lead to ‘infinite expansion of the concept of the work of authorship. Anything touched by human hand, including for instance sports performances, would be deemed a work’. Focus on sports-related intellectual property issues offers an ideal starting point for exploring core questions on information law. Legal rules in sports and intellectual property evolve in a climate pervaded by powerful lobby pressures with new technologies that have a profound impact on developments in the sports arena. Indeed, the applicability of copyright law on sports events and players’ moves is one of the many topics discussed in this volume, which spans issues from those related to players and their performances and achievements, via those relevant to sports event organisers and clubs, to questions concerning event reporting and data and the growing role of AI technologies in sports.

Prominent experts in intellectual property law speculate on the nexus of sports and intellectual property in its widest sense, elucidating such aspects as the following:

• copyright and celebrity rights relating to players and player performances
• neighbouring rights for organisers of sports events
• ethnic and cultural references in team and league branding
• legality of reselling event tickets
• use of artificial intelligence in refereeing
• related rights protection of images
• e-sports and fantasy leagues, and
• sports celebrities and character merchandising

The book explores the legal position of sports clubs and players, as well as legal issues surrounding the commercialisation and reporting of sports events. It offers intriguing comparative chapters on intellectual property aspects in such parallel domains as body art, movement, carnivals, choreography, and chess.

By addressing the panoply of fascinating information through widely varying lenses and in different styles, this unique volume will be appreciated by practitioners, jurists, and academics interested in intellectual property rights as well as in sports law.