SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Joaquín Jofre Fernández-Abascal, Jofre Sports Law
Restrictions on Athlete Image Rights Professional athletes in Spain face unique restrictions when assigning their image rights to third parties. The 85/15 rule To prevent tax evasion, Spanish law mandates that at least 85% of an athlete’s total income from their club must be treated as employment salary. Only a maximum of 15% can be paid to a third-party com - pany for image rights. Nevertheless, the Spanish Tax Agency sanctioned several athletes that implemented the 85/15 rule, questioning whether the image rights company provides a real service or whether it is mere - ly an instrument to avoid taxes. Express consent Under Organic Law 1/1982, image rights are consid - ered fundamental rights. Any commercial use by a third party requires express, specific consent, which can generally be revoked by the athlete at any time, subject to potential damages. Professional and Non-Professional Sports Federation restrictions The Sports Law (Law 39/2022) expressly prohibits the establishment of commercial relationships (such as direct intellectual property/image licensing deals) between a sports federation and any athlete likely to participate in its official competitions to avoid conflicts of interest. Collective licensing In professional football, individual clubs cannot inde - pendently license their audiovisual rights; these must be assigned to and managed collectively by the league (eg, LaLiga) under Royal Decree-Law 5/2015. 5.7 Data in Sport In Spain, sports data has evolved from a niche tacti - cal tool into a multi-million euro strategic pillar, driven largely by elite football and the growing SportTech ecosystem. Common Data Uses in Spain Athlete performance Elite clubs use tracking and analysis platforms. This data is used by coaches to adjust tactics and by med -
grammes. While there are over 4.2 million federated licences in Spain, the commercial exploitation of col - legiate intellectual property is minimal compared to the USA. Limited commercialisation Spanish university athletes (non-professionals) rarely have individual licensing deals. Their image rights are protected by general law (LO 1/1982), but the market for collegiate intellectual property licensing is not yet Student-athletes may obtain “High-Level Athlete” ( Deportistas de Alto Nivel , DAN) status from the CSD, which provides academic support and certain public grants rather than direct intellectual property licens - ing revenue. 5.6 Assignment of IP Rights developed like in the USA. High-performance status In Spain, the assignment of intellectual property and image rights is subject to several legal and tax-related restrictions designed to protect the human element of the creator or athlete. Inalienability of Moral Rights Under the Spanish Intellectual Property Act (LPI), moral rights (such as the right to be recognised as the author and the right to the integrity of the work) are inalienable and cannot be waived or assigned. Only economic rights (exploitation rights such as reproduc - tion and distribution) can be assigned to third parties. Formalities and Presumptions Written form All assignments of exploitation rights must be formal - ised in writing. If not, the author may terminate the agreement. Temporal and territorial limits If a contract does not specify a duration, the assign - ment is legally limited to five years and restricted to the country where the transfer took place. Future works Spanish law prohibits the global assignment of all works that an author may create in the future; such clauses are considered null.
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