Annex I. Challenges facing sports event organisers in the digital environment
Author | Panella, Lauro |
Pages | 23-104 |
EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service
Annex I
Challenges facing
sports event
organisers in the
digital environment
A legal analysis
This research paper aims to verify whet her the EU legal systemprovidessports event organisers
and their licensees with a n adequate level of pr otection against the rampant phenomenon of
onlin e piracy of sports events, or, whetherhigher standards of protection are desirable. Our s tudy
is divided into f our ch apte rs, as fo llows.
Chapt er 1 is devo ted t o th e analy sis of: (i)the technology employed by illicit networks to stream
live tra nsmissions of sports events on the Int ernet; (ii)the economic im pact of d igital piracy on
the sports sector.
In Chapter 2, a comprehensive analysis of the existing s et of exclus ive righ ts pro tecting s ports
events is provided, both at the EU and at the domestic levels. Specificattention has been given
tothe current legislation in certainEU markets, such as Belgium, Denmark, Fra nce, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK.
The analysis of the substantive law within the European Union also covers two oth er topics:
(b) the need to adopt a new neighbour ing right over sports events, to be gr anted to sports event
organisers.
Under Chapt er 3, an a ssess ment of the cur rent enfor cement measures is carried out , both at EU
and national levels.
The mapping of t he available enforcemen t measures deriving from the national implementation
of the Directiv e 2004/48/EC, th e Directiv e 2000/31/ECand the Dire ctive 2001/29/E C, leads to the
conclusion that the legal framework needs to be updated in order to effectively t ac kle
techn olog ically a dvan ced for ms of online piracy, such as the one at issuehere.
Finally, Chapter 4 is devoted to the illus tra tion o f differ ent p olicy o ption s aim ed at deployingan
efficient cros s-border enforcement system at EU level.
AUTHORS
This study has been wri tten by Prof. Avv. P aolo Marzano, Avv. Gabrie lla Rubino, Avv. France sca Cordova of
Legance – Avvocati Asso ciati and by Avv. A ndrea Giulia Monte leone, assistant re searc her at LUISS Guido Carli
University, at the request of the European Added Value Unit of the Directorate for Impact Assessment and
European Added Value, within the Directorate-General for P arliamentary Rese arch Services ( EPRS) of the
Secre tariat of the Europe an Parliame nt.
Contributions have been given f rom thefoll owing national e xperts: Mr. Federico Bagnol i Rossi, Secretary
General, FAPAV, Federazione per la Tutela dei Contenuti Audiovisivi; Ms.Annemarie Beekman, Head of Legal
& Business Aff airs Benelux at Fox Ne tworks Group Netherlands B.V.;Ms.Simone von Benti vegni, Legal adviser
at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland GmbH; Ms.Małgorzata Borkowska, Media Rights Consultants of
EKSTRAKLASA LIVE PARK Sp. z o.o., Poland; Mr.Geerart Bourlon, Vice President, Global Content Protection
Legal, Motion Picture Association; Mr.Stefan Brost, Team lead Public Affairs of the German Football
Association (DFB) ; Ms.Sónia C arneiro, Exec utive Direc tor of Liga Portugal; Mr.Victor Castro Rosa, Head of
Cabinet for Studies and External Relations at GEDIPE- Collecting Society for Audiovisual Producers;
Ms.Lorraine Choquart, Senior Legal Counsel at BEin; Mr.Luc iano Daffarra, Attorne y-at-law at C-Lex Studio
Legale , Italy; Ms. Maria Fredenslund, CEO of Re ttighedsAlliancen, Denmark; Mr.Thomas He ldrup, He ad of
Legal of Rettighe dsalliancen, Denmark; Ms.Galateia Kapellak ou, Phd, Res ear ch Assoc iate at C enter fo r Security
Studies (KEMEA), Athens; Mr.Mateusz Karolak, EKSTRAKLASA LIVE PARK Sp. z o.o., Poland;Mr. Ol e Knudsen,
Legal Consultant speci alizing in e mployment law at the Divis ional Association Danish League Employers’
Confederation; Mr.Alessandro La Rosa, Attorney-at-law at Studio Legale Pre viti, Italy;Mr.Mark Lichtenhein,
Chairman of the Sports Rights Ow ners Coali tion (SROC);Ms.Carolina Lorenzon, Director, International Aff airs,
Mediaset;Ms.Vittoria Luda di Cortemiglia, Senior Project Manager at Sustainable Scycles (SCYCLE)
Programme co-hosted by the United Nations University (UNU) a nd the United Nations Insti tute for Training
and Re search ( UNITAR);Mr.José Meiri m, Professor c onvidado da Escol a de Lisboa da Fa culdade de Dire itoda
Universidade Católica P ortuguesa;Mr.Leander Mo nbaliu , Chief Busine ss Offic er & Head of Legal at Pro League;
Mr.Mathieu Moreuil, Director of International Football Relations and EU Affairs at The Premier League;
Mr.Marco Musu meci, Program me Coordinator at United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research
Institute;Mr.Mark-E. Orth, Atto rney-at-law at Meo* law firm, Munich; Mr.Grégoire Polad, Director General,
Association of Comm ercial Television in Europe;Mr.Juan Rotge r, Global C ontent Protection Manager Spanish
Football Le ague (LaLiga) ;Mr.Paulo Roz eira, Legal Diretor of Liga Portugal;Mr.Morgan Schuster, EU Affairs
Legal Advis or of Canal + Groupe, Le gal Departm ent France;Mr.Stef an Sergot, Head of Le gal - Enforcement at
The Premier League;Mr.Michał Siara, EKSTRAKLASA LIVE PARK Sp. z o.o., Poland;Mr.Seong Sin Han, Chief
Counse l, Commercial & Te chnology Legal Ser vice s, Legal Affairs, UEFA; Mr.Julien Taie b, Head of Legal and
Public Affairs chez LFP - Ligue de Football Professionne l; Mr.Lars Underbje rg, Security Manage r of Nordic
Conte nt Protec tion; Ms.Laura Vilches, EU Affairs Advisor Spanish Football Le ague (LaLiga);Mr.Knud Wallberg,
Attorney-at-law, C openhagen;Ms.Raque l Xalabarder Plantada, Professo r of Intelle ctual Prope rty, D i re ct or of
the Law and Political Sci ence Department at Ope n University of Catalonia ( Universitat Obe rta de Catalunya).
Special thanks to Prof. Jane C . Ginsburg, Morton L. Janklow Professor of Literary and Artistic P roperty Law at
the Columbia Law School, Ms. Laura Vilches and Mr. Mathieu Moreuil, Mr. Seong Sin Han, for the prec ious
inputs and support give n to us.
ADMINISTRATOR RESPONSIBLE
Aleksandra Heflich, European Added Value Unit
The Eur opean Added Value Unitwould like to thank its trainee Matteo Firrito for his work on this research
project.
To contact the publisher, please e-m ail eprs-europeanaddedvalue@ep.europa.eu
LINGUISTIC VERSIONS
Original: EN
Manuscri pt comple ted i n December 2020.
DISCLAIMER AND COPYRIGHT
This document is prepared for, andaddressed to, the Members and staff of the European Parliament as
background material to assist the m in their parliamentary work. The c ontent of the document i s the sole
responsibility of its author(s) and any opinions ex pressed he rein should not be taken to represent an offic ial
position of the P arliame nt.
Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised, provided the source is
acknow ledge d and the European P arliament i s given prior notic e and sent a c opy.
Brussels © European Union, 2020.
PE654.205
ISBN: 978-92-846-7550-0
DOI: 10.2861/047009
CAT:QA-03-20-849-EN-N
eprs@ep.europa.eu
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http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank(internet)
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