UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Alain Zahlan de Cayetti and Anna Sedova, De Cayetti Law
or video recordings that identify a person are consid - ered personal data. The UAE Penal Code also provides protection against misuse of personal images. Although not formally codified as “NIL rights”, athletes in the UAE commonly exploit image rights through contractual agreements, including sponsorship con - tracts, endorsement agreements and merchandising deals. 5.4 Protecting Personality/Image Rights The UAE has adopted the civil law system and does not have a passing-off doctrine, even if the combina - tion of the statutes mentioned above provide a similar mechanism addressing unfair competition and mis - leading commercial practices. For example, a sports brand falsely suggesting endorsement by a famous athlete could face legal action for misleading use of commercial identifiers. The infringement of image rights can give rise to a civil liability (tort), violation of personal rights and reputation (in particular, to rights to privacy) and, where applicable, to contractual liabil - ity. 5.5 Licensing The legal framework for IP licensing in the UAE is reg - ulated by the laws set out above, pertaining to Trade - marks, Copyright and Neighboring Rights, and on Civil Transactions. Licensing agreements grants the licen - see permission to use certain IP rights in exchange for royalties and other commercial consideration. Leagues, competition and events IP rights are licensed to commercial partners, generally on an exclusive and territorial basis. Clubs enter into merchandising IP licensing agree - ments with manufacturers on trade marks and log - os. They enter into licensing agreements for digital content (ie, match highlights, club media content, historical footage) and with sponsors, for marketing purposes. Licensing athlete image rights is authorised under the UAE laws, often related to NIL through endorsement or sponsorship agreements (eg, brand ambassador
role, or licensed merchandise using the athlete’s name or image). The UAE does not have an extensive college/univer - sity sports system. However, universities and ama - teur sports organisations may still license IP rights. Amateur athletes in the UAE may enter into limited endorsement or sponsorship agreements, always subject to federal regulations and amateur eligibility rules. Licensing agreements typically cover exclusivity (or absence thereof), territory, duration, royalty/fee struc - ture and quality control provisions to protect the IP owner’s reputation. This has been the regular practice of the UAE Pro League with BeIN Sports, and the Formula One event (Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with Etihad Airways and Rolex). Clubs, such as Al Ain FC and Al Jazira Club, regularly enter into IP licensing agreements. Professional ath - letes are involved: for instance, Lewis Hamilton (Abu Dhabi Grand Prix). 5.6 Assignment of IP Rights There are restrictions on assigning IP rights to third parties, depending on such IP rights’ nature, whether contractual or subject to the provisions of Federal Decree-Law No 36 of 2021 on Trademarks. In gener - al, registered trade marks may be assigned, licensed or transferred to another party, with or without the transfer of the underlying business. Consequently, restrictions apply in the event the assignment is not recorded with the UAE Ministry of Economy or if the assignment creates confusion or deception regard - ing the origin or nature of the rights. The assignment must be documented in a written instrument signed by all parties. Copyright can be assigned in the same conditions, subject to the provisions of Federal Decree-Law No 38 of 2021 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights. Eco - nomic rights can be assigned by their authors and may include the rights of reproduction, distribution, public performance and commercial exploitation. The rights must be specified, as well as the duration of the assignment and the territorial scope.
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