[Author: Jagrit Dembla, 3rd Year Student, Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University), New Law College, Pune]
Sports has been a part of society since the origin of human existence. What started as a competition of strength and endurance has transformed into a trillion-dollar global industry. Over time, different cultures developed their own sporting traditions, from Cricket and Rugby in the United Kingdom, Basketball and Baseball in the United States, to Sumo wrestling in Japan and Kabaddi in India; all these sports born from local traditions became more than just games to expressions of culture and pride.
By the 20th century, sporting events like the FIFA World Cup, Wimbledon and Olympics gained large traction from international audience. Today, in the modern times, with the rise of technology and growing fan economy, sports has transformed into a full-fledged business ecosystem. Broadcasting rights are sold for millions, large companies provide sponsorships for advertising their brands, and athletes have become celebrities that shape global trends. The sports industry is no longer merely about competition.
The Economy of Modern Sports
As per the ‘Global Sports Market Briefing Report of 2024’, KPMG’s access to EMIS database, March 2025, the global sports industry, comprising of infrastructure, events, training, and manufacturing and retail of sports goods is valued at an estimated USD 506.7 Billion, accounting for approximately 0.5% of the global GDP. Sport has also had a significant impact on the global economy due to its close association with other sectors, including FMCG, tech, education, manufacturing and real estate.
In India, the sports industry is currently valued at USD 19 billion and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 12-14 percent, reaching USD 40 billion by 2030. While cricket contributes the most significant portion, being almost 85% through the BCCI, IPL, and domestic leagues, other sports leagues such as the Indian Super League, Pro Kabbadi League, Hockey India League, etc. have also contributed to the growth of various sectors including sports goods manufacturing, sports tech, events and tourism, and sponsorships and advertising. The sports industry is no longer merely about competition. It is a multi-billion dollar commercial ecosystem built on media rights, sponsorships, branding, merchandising, athlete image rights and data-driven technologies. IP lies at the heart of this ecosystem.
Role of IPR in Sports Industry
A key element of the sports businesses are the sporting franchises. The main sources of revenue in the sports industry comprise of media rights, match day revenues, sponsorships & corporate partnerships, and merchandise & licensing.
Sporting events have intangible assets involved in their creation (e.g., team logos), as well as their existence (e.g., match broadcasts), which drive branding, fan dedication and the ability to create billions of dollars in revenues. As professional caliber sporting events are expanding, the need to develop a strong and well-known brand has gained importance. Sporting franchises now dedicate significant amounts of time and money to developing well known logos, mascots and colours, along with stories that support their branding strategies.
The rise of commercial interest in sporting IP has resulted in the emergence of numerous legal issues in the sporting sector, including through the misuse of IP. Unauthorized uses of a sporting organization’s trademark, misuse of its name, unauthorized use of a sporting personality’s name, and misrepresentation of its name, amongst others, constitute infringement of IP, registered or unregistered; this may include using, in connection with the sale of athletic products, images of sporting equipment, logos and other audiovisual media, broadcasting rights, and computer software.
Intellectual Property (IP) is a fundamental component of growing the sports industry, protecting the uniqueness and therefore the financial value of sporting events. IPR are categorized into several distinct types, each with its own set of legal protections. The most frequently used type of IPR within the sporting industry is trademark. Trademarks include everything from the name of a team, to the name of a league, to a tagline, a logo, a symbol or any other branding element. Essentially, a trademark is any written or visual representation of a product or service that enables consumers to identify the product or service. Trademarks are instrumental in building fan loyalty and helping fans identify which teams they support. Furthermore, trademarks improve the overall commercial viability of sports brands by providing sponsors with an added incentive to offer sponsorship to a sports team.
In addition to that, there is a wide range of other types of intellectual property that impact the sports industry. For example, patents can be used to protect the use of new gadgets, equipment, or innovative methods of manufacturing and producing sporting goods, among other things. Some patents can also be applied to technologies or processes that enhance the performance or safety of athletes or sporting goods.
In addition to patents, trade secrets are another common type of intellectual property that most people are not familiar with in the sports industry. The growing use of data and technology has transformed the way sports teams operate. Today, teams collect and analyse vast amounts of information through tools such as wearable devices that monitor player fitness and fatigue, data analytics systems that study opponents’ tactics, and biometric tracking used to reduce the risk of injuries. This information often plays an important role in decisions relating to player recruitment, team strategy, and even contract negotiations. As a result, such data has become a valuable asset for sports organisations. If sensitive information is leaked, it can affect a team’s competitive position. For example, Formula 1 teams rely heavily on real-time data to assess car performance and make race-day decisions, while football clubs like Manchester United use artificial intelligence to better understand and engage with their fans. In an increasingly data-driven sports industry, protecting trade secrets is no longer just a matter of sporting success; it is also essential for safeguarding commercial interests, investments, and brand value. Trade secrets can be some of the most helpful types of intellectual property, but at the same time they can be challenging to protect because they are often governed by confidentiality agreements rather than dedicated trade secret laws. For example, no dedicated law exists in India for trade secrets, so the protection of these trade secrets is typically governed by the confidentiality agreements signed between players, coaches, teams, and other individuals within the organization. Therefore, it is vital that an organization develops strong contracts and agreements to prevent misuse of confidential information.
Further, athletes are the most significant assets in the sports industry. Athletes generate substantial revenues for their teams through brand endorsements, merchandising, and other promotional activities. For instance, Virat Kohli’s position as the brand ambassador for Manyavar has significantly increased the fame and recognition of that brand throughout India, cited as the ‘Kohli Effect’. Since modern athletes derive substantial commercial value not only from their sporting performance but also from their names, images, likenesses, signatures, voices, celebrations and other distinctive attributes, the unauthorised commercial exploitation of these attributes can dilute an athlete’s brand value and deprive them of legitimate commercial opportunities. In the absence of statutory protection of personality rights, Indian courts have consistently protected personality rights through constitutional principles, common law remedies and the law of passing off. Recently, in Sunil Gavaskar v. Cricket Tak & Ors. (2025), the Delhi High Court granted an interim injunction restraining the unauthorised commercial use of the former cricketer’s name, image, voice and other personality attributes on digital platforms.
Finally, broadcasting rights constitute one of the most valuable commercial assets in the modern sports industry, generating significant revenues for leagues, sporting federations and event organisers through exclusive television and digital media licences. The rapid growth of OTT platforms has further increased the commercial significance of sports broadcasting while simultaneously intensifying challenges such as online piracy, illegal streaming and unauthorised retransmission. Although copyright law provides protection to broadcasts and related audiovisual works, the time-sensitive nature of live sporting events requires swift and effective enforcement. Indian courts have increasingly recognised this need by granting dynamic injunctions against rogue websites that facilitate unauthorised streaming of sporting events. Such judicial developments underscore the growing importance of specialised legal mechanisms to preserve the commercial value of sports broadcasting rights in the digital age.
Sports Specific IPR Regulations At The Global Level
Although no country has enacted a single, comprehensive sports-specific IP legislation, several countries have introduced legislations to protect major sports IPs such as Olympic symbols, event branding, broadcasting rights, sponsorships and to combat ambush marketing. These laws generally supplement ordinary trademark, copyright, design laws, etc. rather than replace them. The following jurisdictions are some leading examples –
United Kingdom: UK has one of the most developed legal frameworks for protecting sports-related IP through event specific legislation. The Olympic Symbol (Protection) Act 1995 grants exclusive protection to the Olympic symbol, Olympic motto, Olympic flag and associated words and emblems, prohibiting their unauthorised commercial use. In preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act, 2006 was enacted, which introduced comprehensive measures against ambush marketing, unauthorized advertising, unauthorized street trading near the Olympic venues and the misuse of Olympic branding. These provisions supplemented the country’s existing trademark and copyright laws and are widely regarded as leading international model for protecting the commercial value of major sporting events.
Australia: In Australia, the Olympic Insignia Protection Act, 1987 grants exclusive rights over the Olympic insignia, including the Olympic rings and related expressions, to the Australian Olympic Committee. Further, to protect the commercial interests in the Sydney Olympics, the Parliament enacted the Sydney 2000 Games (Indicia and Images) Protection Act 1996, which protected official Olympic names, logos, mascots, images and slogans while prohibiting unauthorised commercial associations and ambush marketing. Similar protections were later extended through the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games (Indicia and Images) Protection Act 2005.
New Zealand: New Zealand enacted the Major Events Management Act, 2007, to protect the commercial value of internationally significant sporting and cultural events. The Act prohibits unauthorised commercial associations with designated major events, restricts ambush marketing, regulates advertising around event venues and protects official event names, logos, mascots and sponsorship rights. It was introduced primarily in preparation for the 2011 Rugby World Cup but applies to any event designated by the government. The legislation is internationally recognised as one of the strongest statutory frameworks against ambush marketing.
United States: In the United States, sports related intellectual property is principally protected through the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act. This Act grants the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee exclusive rights over the Olympic Rings, the words “Olympic” and “Olympiad,” Olympic mottos and related Olympic branding. Unlike ordinary trademark law, the Act provides the USOPC with broader statutory protection, enabling it to enforce its rights without necessarily proving a likelihood of consumer confusion.
South Africa: South Africa developed one of the earliest statutory frameworks addressing ambush marketing before hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Rather than enacting a standalone sports IP legislation, it amended the existing legislation, particularly the Merchandise Marks Act of 1941, to prohibit unauthorised commercial associations with designated sporting events and to protect official sponsors and event branding.
Brazil: Brazil enacted the General World Cup Law in preparation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The legislation protected FIFA’s official trademarks, symbols, commercial sponsorships, ticketing system and broadcasting rights while also creating offences relating to unauthorised commercial exploitation and ambush marketing. Additional legal measures were implemented for the 2016 Summer Olympics to safeguard Olympic intellectual property and sponsorship rights.
Although the legislative approaches differ across jurisdictions, most sports-specific IP laws pursue common objectives: protecting official event names, symbols, logos and sponsorship rights; preventing ambush marketing and unauthorised commercial associations; and providing enhanced enforcement mechanisms to safeguard the commercial value of major sporting events. Rather than replacing general intellectual property laws, these statutes typically supplement existing trademark, copyright and unfair competition regimes by addressing the unique commercial realities of the sports industry.
The Need for Sports Specific IPR Regulations in India
With the growing commercialisation of intellectual property rights, it becomes increasingly important to protect those rights from infringement; however, this form of protection is still in its infancy stage within the sports industry, particularly in India. As it stands currently, there is no specific law in place that governs the area of intellectual property rights for sports; therefore, the lack of specific laws creates many opportunities for infringement and counterfeiting. The fact that there is currently no specific law in India regarding intellectual property rights related to sporting events has caused many problems, including the sale of counterfeit merchandise at stadiums and illegal broadcasting. As a result, the absence of adequate legal protection can result in substantial losses, both financial and reputational. The protection of intellectual property rights provides many benefits to their respective owners. In addition, it allows the owner to license, sell, assign, and/or use their IP for commercial purposes. This means that a creator’s (the creator may be a sports team, league, manufacturer, and/or athlete) ability to generate income through their IP is directly linked to the protection of their intellectual property rights. A creator may suffer significant financial loss if they are unable to protect and/or enforce their respective intellectual property rights.
There are still opportunities to protect some elements of sport by using the general IP laws that do exist in India, rather than having IP legislation that is specifically geared towards sporting activity. For example, team name registration, league name registration and logo, mascot, slogan, event titles and merchandise identifiers are examples of registered trademarks that are protected under the Trademarks Act of 1999. Likewise, copyrights for original creative works like theme song, articles, promotional video, match video, commentary, cinematographic film, photographs and sound recordings made during the match are protected by the Copyright Act of 1957. These laws work together to allow sports organizations to determine the way in which to use and profit off of their sports content. While this is a good start for protecting some parts of sporting activity, it is important to understand that there is still weak protection available to some sections of sports IP because there is no protection in Indian law for trade secrets, such as training methodologies, coaching strategies, internal analysis or fitness plans, or against ambush marketing. Only a few other countries offer trade secret protection in their legal system, so there is a serious void in this area when compared to what is considered typical in any competitive industry where gaining a competitive advantage is the primary objective. The only form of protection for confidential information that exists is the use of solid contracts and confidentiality agreements between players, coaches, analyst, teams, and support staff. Without these contractual protections and in the absence of legislative force, there exists the possibility of general leakage or misuse of trade secrets.
In addition to the legal grey area, enforcement of intellectual property rights is a major challenge, even when the IP is properly registered. IP owners frequently face difficulties or obstacles, such as a slow judicial process, lack of awareness, and high costs associated with litigation, and as a result are frequently unable to enforce their rights effectively in Indian courts. There are several major problems related to counterfeit sporting items, unauthorized streaming, and misuse of images related to athletes, particularly during major sporting events (i.e., IPL, ISL, etc.) and/or international competitive cricket events. The digital age has contributed to the widespread infringement of IP interests through the establishment of online piracy and illegal streaming, both of which are major contributors to losses of revenue for both leagues and broadcasters. According to “The Rob Report” released by EY and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) in 2024, India’s broader entertainment and digital media sector, which includes sports broadcasting, loses approximately ₹22,400 crore ($2.7 billion) annually to piracy.
In the recent years, India has increasingly recognised sport as a strategic sector for economic development, public health, youth empowerment, and international diplomacy. Over the last decade, the Government of India has substantially increased investment in sports through higher budgetary allocations, grassroots talent development, world-class infrastructure, athlete support programmes, and international event hosting. One of the most significant indicators of this commitment is the steady increase in public expenditure on sports. In the Union Budget for 2025–26, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports received an allocation of approximately ₹3,794.30 crore, representing a substantial increase over the previous financial year. The flagship Khelo India programme alone received ₹1,000 crore, up from ₹800 crore in 2024–25, demonstrating emphasis on identifying and nurturing sporting talent from the grassroots level. Financial assistance to National Sports Federations was also increased to strengthen the administration and development of various sports across the country.
India’s Olympic ambition has further accelerated investment in sports. The Indian Olympic Association has formally submitted a Letter of Intent to the International Olympic Committee to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the bid is presently in the IOC’s Continuous Dialogue process. This ambition has encouraged greater focus on sports infrastructure, athlete development, governance reforms, and international-standard facilities, with Ahmedabad emerging as the principal proposed host city. Hosting the Olympics requires robust legal and commercial protection for Olympic symbols, event branding, sponsorship rights, broadcasting rights, merchandising, ticketing, and protection against ambush marketing, areas in which India presently relies on general IP laws rather than a dedicated sports-specific legal framework, likes of which have been adopted by other countries, especially when hosting events of global importance like the Olympics.
India has already recognised that the sports sector requires specialised legislation by enacting the National Sports Governance Act, 2025. The logical next step is to acknowledge that the commercial and IP dimensions of sport are equally distinctive and require a dedicated legal framework. We should take inspiration from countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, South Africa, Brazil, etc. who have enacted sports-specific or event-specific legislation to protect Olympic symbols, event branding, sponsorship rights, broadcasting rights, and to combat ambush marketing, thereby safeguarding the commercial value of major sporting events. Just as sports governance has now been placed on a specialised statutory footing through the National Sports Governance Act, 2025, sports-related IP should likewise be governed by a dedicated sports-specific IP legislation. Such legislation would complement the existing intellectual property framework by providing targeted protection for sports events, athletes, broadcasters, sponsors, rights holders, and sporting organisations, thereby creating a comprehensive legal ecosystem capable of supporting India’s ambition to become a global sporting nation and the future host of the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In the meantime, sports entities have to depend on a combination of existing IP laws, strong contracts, modern technology solutions and ongoing inspections and enforcement of their assets. As the Indian sports industry develops at a faster rate, sports organization will become increasingly dependent on effective intellectual property rights, establishing many of the conditions necessary to create successful sports enterprises, protect athlete rights and provide the foundation for a successful sports regulatory environment.
Conclusion
The evolution of sport from a recreational activity to a global commercial enterprise has made intellectual property one of the most valuable assets in the sports industry. Today, the commercial success of sporting events, leagues, franchises, athletes, broadcasters, sponsors, and manufacturers is closely linked to the effective creation, management, and protection of intellectual property rights. As the commercial value of sport continues to grow, so does the need for a legal framework capable of protecting these valuable assets.
However, the legal protection of sports-related IP in India continues to remain fragmented. Although the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the Copyright Act, 1957, the Patents Act, 1970, and the Designs Act, 2000 provide protection for several aspects of sports, they do not adequately address issues such as ambush marketing, athlete publicity rights, protection of confidential sporting information, specialised licensing, event branding, sports merchandising, and the need for swift enforcement during sporting events. Consequently, rights holders are often required to rely on multiple statutes and common law remedies, resulting in uncertainty, delayed enforcement, and inadequate protection against commercial exploitation.
The comparative experiences of countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, and China demonstrate that the unique commercial nature of sport often requires specialised legislative protection in addition to ordinary IP laws. These legislative models offer valuable guidance for India as it seeks to strengthen its own sports ecosystem.
A dedicated sports-specific IP legislation would therefore represent a natural progression in India’s legal and sporting development. Rather than replacing the existing intellectual property framework, such legislation should complement it by introducing targeted protections specifically designed for the sports industry. It could provide comprehensive protection for sports events, athletes, broadcasters, sponsors, rights holders, and sporting organisations while establishing specialised enforcement mechanisms capable of responding swiftly to infringements during live sporting events. Such a framework would not only safeguard commercial investments but also promote innovation, attract greater domestic and foreign investment, encourage sponsorship, and enhance India’s credibility as a destination for hosting international sporting events. As India continues to emerge as one of the world’s fastest-growing sports markets, its legal framework must evolve alongside its sporting ambitions.
[For queries or feedback, the Author can be reached out at jagritdembla@gmail.com]
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PREFERRED CITATION: Jagrit Dembla, Beyond the Pitch: Protection of IPR in the Sports Industry, Sports Law Review India, published on 21 July 2026.
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