Executive summary

• Author: Panella, Lauro
• Pages: 1-2

Challe nges fac ing sports eve nt organisers in the digital environment

I

Executive summary

The m ain purpose of th is Eur opean added value assessment (EAVA) is to quantify the European

added value of an EU legislativ e initiativ e that addresses the challenges facing organis ers of

sports events in the digital environment, with particular attention to the phenomenon of on line

piracy.

The study investig ates whether the current EU legal regime provides sports events organisers a nd

their licensees with an adequate level of pr otection against pir acy of online sports events, or, rather,

if higher standards of protection are needed. The main challenge posed for spo rts events is that, just

like all ot her for ms of 'prem ium' content, they have a highl y perishable n ature: t heir econ omic

value is substantially exhausted by the end of the event (and its live coverage). Hence, the

comm ercia l value of intellect ual pr operty ri ght s pr ote ct ion clo sely hinges o n a prompt and effective

enforcement system regulated by a har monised legislative framework at E U level.

The legal analysis underpinning this EAVA (s ee Annex I) ident ifies two main obs tacle s that ha mper

the a bility to tack le online p iracy . The firs t concern s th e legal provisions system governing

intellec tual property rights (IPRs). In particular, there are multip le, non-harmonised layers of

exclusiv e rights designed to pro tect sports events, but only a few can address the online piracy

issue specifically. The second m ain obst acle concerns t he obsolescence of the legal enforcement

measures stemming from national implementation of the Enf orcement Direct ive,1 the

e-Commerce Directive 2 and the InfoSoc Directive;3 these need to be updated in order to ta ckle

technol ogicall y advanced forms o f onli ne pi racy.

The stu dy presents a policy pro posal aimed at r emovin g both impediment s fr om the legal

framework governing IPRs.

When it comes to the legal provisions system for IPRs and the need fo r its harmo nisation, the f irst

possible solution (Option 1) wo uld be to provide an ad hoc EU neighbouring right in fav our of

sport s event organise rs as opposed to sport s events per se; the second – and mos t effective –

solution (Option 2) wo uld be to provide for ' expansion' of the broadcast ers' neighbouring ri ght,

with the introduction of a full communi cation right in favour of both audiovisual producers and

broadcasters of sports events, coupled with the adoption of a 'standing to sue' in fav our of sports

organisers. These options fill the gap in the cur rent legal framework for IPRs in ter ms both of

substantive and remedial law, with d ifferent effects .

As rega rds the obsolescence of the current legal enf orcement system, a po ssible s olution would

be to implement a sy stem of fast, dy namic and live blocking or ders, harmonised at EU level through

the use o f 'dynamic bl ocking orders' and 'live injunctions'. Along with the latter, it is necessary to

adopt a leg al pro vision g ranting sports events organisers (and any ot her producers of 'p r e m ium'

content) the right to remove illicit content directly – through technological means – from any

stream ing server used by pirat es.

1 Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual

property rights.

2 Directive 2000/31/EC of the Euro pean Par liame nt and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information

society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market ('Directive on electronic commerce').

3 Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain

aspects of copyright and rel ated ri ghts in the i nformation societ y.