Spotlight: organization and commercialization of sports events in Sweden
All questions
Commercialization of sporting events
i Types of and ownership of rights
Swedish law does not recognize independent ownership of an event per se. The idea or concept for a sporting event is not protectable under Swedish intellectual property laws. However, the sporting event organizer can usually protect the sporting event and the commercial rights to the event through a combination of property law, contractual provisions, intellectual property rights and tort law. The event organizer often controls access to the venue where the event will be held. The organizer of the event may restrict the access of third parties to the premises and ensure by various agreements that spectators, athletes and others admitted to the event are not entitled to take commercial advantage of their presence. The control of the premises is based on the laws on real property, contracts and the right to damages. Tort law generally makes a trespasser of anyone who enters the land without permission, or enters with permission but then breaches the terms of that permission. The event organizer can also protect and commercially exploit the various commercial rights of the event through agreements on entry to the event (tickets), sponsorship, broadcasting, merchandising, catering, hospitality, etc. Broadcasting agreements are considered the most valuable source of income for the organizers of sports events, and the development of the internet and other media as additional broadcast media will impact the broadcasting business in the coming years.
ii Rights protection
Rights related to the exploitation and commercialization of sports-related rights can be protected by a variety of intellectual property rights listed below.
Copyright and Database Rights
In Sweden, no particular form of copyright covers sporting events specifically and a sportsperson’s performance during a sporting event would not be protectable in itself, but the provisions of the Act (1960:729) on copyright to literary and artistic works (the Copyright Act). can be successfully applied to the sports industry. Copyright law protects the expression of an original work, such as literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, broadcasts and sound recordings, with protection ranging from 50 to 70 years.27 The protection will automatically arise on the expression of the work. The compilation and use of sports databases for commercial reasons may also be protected under copyright law under certain conditions (such as significant investment in obtaining, verifying or presenting the contents of the database). As mentioned, a sportsperson’s performance during a sporting event would not be protectable per se, but all recordings (audio, visual and audio-visual recordings), broadcasts and films of that performance may be protected under copyright law.
Trademarks
According to the Trademarks Act (2010:1877) (Trademarks Act), a trademark (ie a trademark indicating the nature or origin of the good or service) can be registered for a period of 10 years in the trademark register kept by the Patent and Registration Office and can be renewed (each time for a period of 10 years from the end of the previous registration period).28 The owner of the brand can bring an action against the person who uses the brand without authorization. A name or logo subject to trademark protection confers exclusive rights on the holder and prevents any third party from unauthorized use of the name, or signs confused with that name, in commerce. A trademark may consist of words (eg the name of a well-known sportsperson), signatures, symbols, emblems, numbers, designs or the shape of goods or their packaging, provided that the signs are distinctive.29 Trademark registration is territorial in nature (ie enforceable in Sweden) and can be infringed by conduct taking place in Sweden, but it will not be infringed by conduct taking place in a foreign jurisdiction, unless it has also been registered in that the jurisdiction. trademark register (or as an EU trademark).
Image rights or publicity rights
Swedish law recognizes an independent right to protect a recognized athlete’s personal name or image against exploitation in commercial contexts through the Act (1978:800) on Names and Images in Advertising (Names Act). The Names Act provides basic protection against the use of a person’s name or image in marketing by traders without express permission from the individual.30 Nevertheless, many recognized professional athletes in Sweden choose to protect their names as trademarks in accordance with the Trademark Act. The Naming Act can also be applied to most types of trademark usage. The two laws are therefore applicable in many corresponding situations.
iii Contractual provisions for the exercise of rights
The sports industry is massive and rapidly growing, both abroad and in Sweden. As a general rule, Swedish law does not require that any mandatory legal provisions be incorporated into commercial agreements on the use of sports-related rights or apply according to agreements of this kind. As noted in Section IV.i, sporting events will typically require several different agreements, such as broadcasting, sponsorship, ticket sales, and merchandising agreements. Sometimes these contracts can be very short and simple, depending on the size of the sporting event and the scale and value of the commercial rights packages offered to, say, a sponsor. But large-scale sporting events usually involve a complex collection of rights and obligations, and contracts tend to be comprehensive and detailed. Key contractual terms of these contracts are usually the term and duration of the contract, the territory in which the sponsor can exercise the sponsorship rights, the nature and extent of the sponsor’s rights (such as exclusive or non-exclusive rights to name and title rights, official supplier rights, advertising rights or presentation rights), the use of trademarks or logos, the financial arrangements and guarantees of the parties (eg that the event organizer owns or controls all rights in and to the sporting event).