DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Frederik Bruhn, Rasmus Theis Madsen, Robert Jønsson and Tim Krarup Nielsen, HortenDahl Law Firm
the end of 2025 to address the unauthorised use of deepfakes. If adopted, a new Section 73 will be added to the Danish Copyright Act, prohibiting the commu - nication to the public of realistic digitally generated imitations (“deepfakes”) of a natural person’s personal and physical characteristics, such as facial features, voice or appearance, without the individual’s consent. A realistic sports-related scenario could involve an AI- generated video depicting a Superliga player criticis - ing VAR or the referee after a match. If such a video were to go viral before the disciplinary process is completed, the proposed provision could provide a clear statutory basis for seeking an interim injunction to prevent further dissemination. If adopted, this will strengthen the protection of ath - letes’ and other individuals’ image rights by providing a statutory basis to prevent the public dissemination of AI-generated content that exploits a person’s iden - tity, irrespective of whether the use qualifies as tradi - tional marketing or involves a protected work. Imitations that clearly constitute caricature, satire, parody, pastiche, political or social criticism, or that are explicitly labelled as imitations, are not covered by the potential new protection. 5.4 Protecting Personality/Image Rights Case Law on Image Rights Protection Danish courts have consistently upheld the commer - cial protection of athletes’ image rights, particularly in cases where their name, image or likeness has been used for unauthorised marketing purposes. Limits of Image Rights Protection While athletes have strong commercial protection, image rights do not extend to objective publicity or journalistic use. Names and images may be legally used for editorial, news or journalistic purposes, pro - vided there is no misleading commercial association. However, blurred distinctions between marketing and editorial content, especially on social media platforms, have led to increased legal scrutiny in Denmark. There - fore, companies must carefully distinguish between genuine sports news and marketing initiatives using athletes’ names or images.
According to Danish case law, the awarded damages or compensation in cases concerning the unauthor - ised commercial use of image rights are relatively mod - est, as illustrated by the 2024 Bet365 judgment, where compensation was set at approximately DKK50,000 per infringing social media post. 5.5 Licensing General Transfer of Commercial Rights Athletes can license or assign their IP rights through agreements with clubs, sponsors or third parties. This typically occurs through: • player contracts, where athletes grant clubs the right to use their name, image and likeness in club context for marketing and sponsorship purposes; or • sponsorship agreements, which allow companies to use the athlete’s image in their marketing cam - paigns under specified conditions. Licensing Agreements Between Clubs and Athletes Sports clubs rely heavily on commercialising player image rights to generate revenue through merchandis - ing, sponsorships and promotions. The brand value of a club is often linked to its most well-known players, meaning that high-profile athletes can significantly increase a club’s commercial appeal. In Danish football and handball, all player contracts must follow the federations’ standard contract tem - plates, according to which image rights and exploita - tion thereof are regulated. All football player contracts must be approved by DBU, and any deviations from the standard provisions are subject to DBU approval, which as a rule will not be given. 5.6 Assignment of IP Rights Licensing and Image Rights Under DBU’s Standard Player Contract The DBU standard player contract, which is sub - ject to the Football Collective Agreement, contains a detailed regulation on clubs’ exploitation of players’ image rights. Therefore, a club has the right to use its player’s name, image and autograph in a club context in merchandising, marketing and sponsorship agree - ments, generally without separate remuneration.
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