State of play of legal provisions for IPRs

• Author: Panella, Lauro
• Pages: 2-3

EPRS | European Parli amentary Re search Servic e

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2. State of play of legal provisions for IP Rs

The state of play of both EU and domestic legislation offering legal protection for sports events

highlights the existence of a patchwork of 'exclusiv ity' rights, spanning from a 'real esta te-based'

form of protection to copyright and neighbouring righ ts granted in fa vour of var ious entit ies (sports

federations , leagues, clubs, and t heir media licensees, such as broadcasters), by both EU and

dom estic la ws.

Indeed, in some Member States, special rig hts are granted to club s or leagues with r egard to

events, t ournaments and competitions, on the basis of sports codes, i.e. special laws o r acts

specifically devoted to the sports sector. In other Member States, domestic laws vest sports

organisers with a neighbour ing right to film and su bsequently broadcast the event.

An analysis of t his bundle of EU and do mestic laws (see A nnex I, Chapt er 2.1 – 2.8) leads to the

followin g con clusions : (i) sports event organisers already receive a suff icient l evel of

protection against unauthorised economic exploitation of their sports events ; (ii) however, an

effi cient fig ht against the specific phenomenon of online pir acy wo uld entail the granting

of harmonised EU IPRs, in the form of exclusive copy right or neighbourin g righ ts; (iii) while

copyright protection seems to pr otect creat ive filming of sports events adequately, the

neighbouring rights granted by various EU directives to producers and broadcasters of thi s fil ming

sho uld be expanded by the granting of a broad communication right, such as that g ran ted u nder

EU copyright law; (iv) while do mestic laws vesting s ports event organisers with neighbouring

rights pr ovide t his broad communication right, it only applies i n the terri tory of the relevant

Member S tate and, as such, is n ot fit to fig ht online piracy ; (v) Article 17 of Directive 2019/790/EU

plays only a very l imited rol e, in that it was not designed to comb at online piracy of sp or ts e vents.

2.1. Legal barr iers and limits

Table 1 summarises the gaps in and limit atio ns of the va rious lay ers of le gal pr otect ion a fforded by

the curren t legal pro visio ns system governing IPRs for rightsh old ers at bo th EU and nation al levels.

Table 1 – National substantive law: limits of legal protection for stakeholders

Entitlem ent Member States Subject Conte nt Limits

Property rights

(Hous e rights)

All Member

states analysed

The venue,

the facilities

The power to control

access to stadiums and

the related equipment

and to se t the rule s and

condition of access

attached to a dmission

ticke ts.

House rights m ay be

claime d solely agai nst

the holder of an

admission ticket and

may offer no

adequate protection

in cases of pi racy.

Exploitat ion

rights granted

over the event

France a nd

Portugal

The sports

event

Granted in favour of

clubs or leagues, over

eve nts, tourname nts

and competitions, on

the basis of sports

codes, spe cial laws or

acts spec ifically draf ted

for the sports se ctor.

The right is provided

by a ve ry limited

number of Member

States, i t has an

uncertain l egal nature

and content.