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 system prov ides sports event or gan isers

and their licensees with a n adequate level of pr otection against the rampant phenomenon of

onlin e piracy of sports events, or, whether higher 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. Specific attention has been given

to the current legislation in certain EU 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:

(a) the ro le potentially played by the newly adopted Article 17 of Directive 2019/790/EU;

(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/EC and 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 issue here.

Finally, Chapter 4 is devoted to the illus tra tion o f differ ent p olicy o ption s aim ed at d e p lo y ing an

efficient cros s-border enforcement system at EU level.

AUTH ORS

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 the foll 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 C onsultants of

EKSTRAKLASA LIVE PARK Sp. z o.o., Poland; Mr. Geerart Bourlon, Vice President, Global Content Protection

Legal, Motion Picture A ssociation; Mr. Stefan Brost, Team le ad Public Aff airs of the German Football

Association (DFB) ; Ms. Sónia C arneiro, Exec utive Direc tor of Liga Portugal; Mr. Victor Castro Rosa, Head of

Cabine t for Studies and External R elations at GEDI PE- C ollecting Society for A udiovisual 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’

Confe deration; 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 C ortemiglia, Senior Project Manager at Sustainable Scyc les ( 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 ito da

Universidade Católica P ortuguesa; Mr. Leander Mo nbaliu , Chief Busine ss Offic er & Head of Legal at Pro League;

Mr. Mathieu More uil, Dire ctor of International Football Re lations and EU Affairs at The Premie r 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 Unit would like to thank its trainee Matteo Firrito for his work on this research

projec t.

To contact the publisher, please e-m ail eprs-europeanaddedvalu e@ep. europa.eu

LINGUISTIC VERSIONS

Original: EN

Manuscri pt comple ted i n December 2020.

DISCLAIMER AND COPYRIGHT

This document is prepared for, and addressed 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 authorise d, 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.

PE 654.205

ISBN: 978-92-8 46-7550 -0

DOI: 10.2861/047009

CAT: QA-03-20-849-EN-N

eprs@ep.europa.eu

http://www.eprs.ep.parl.union.eu (intranet)

http://ww w.e uroparl. europa.eu/thinktank (i nternet)

http://epthinktank.e u (blog)