UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Alistair McHenry, Sofia Antipatis and Rebecca Dods, Tyr
Marks will be refused if descriptive, non-distinctive, deceptive, contrary to public policy, or insufficiently clear. Registrations lacking a genuine intention to use may be vulnerable to bad-faith challenges, and over- broad specifications risk partial invalidity. Advantages of Registration Registration grants exclusive rights for listed goods/ services, enables infringement actions, and supports commercialisation (licensing, merchandising). These benefits are especially valuable in sport, where brand recognition and merchandising are central to revenue. Use Requirements and Non-Use A mark can be registered without immediate use, but it is vulnerable to revocation after five years if not put to genuine use. Portfolio management should reflect bona fide commercial rationale for all claimed goods/ services to reduce non-use and bad-faith risk. Examples The Adidas v Thom Browne litigation highlights the dif - ficulty of protecting design-based or “position” marks, with the High Court independently assessing validity separately from earlier European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) findings. Sponsorship can also create branding conflicts, illustrated by Manches - ter City’s use of “Super Dry”, which led to a settlement with clothing brand Superdry over concerns of confu - sion and dilution. Athlete branding continues to grow, with figures such as Cristiano Ronaldo (CR7), Usain Bolt (the “Lightning Bolt” pose) and Cole Palmer (the “shivering” celebration) developing extensive trade mark portfolios to protect their commercial identities. 5.2 Copyright/Database Rights Copyright Framework The UK’s copyright regime is set out primarily in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA). Although statutory, it incorporates long-standing com - mon law principles relating to originality, authorship and infringement. Copyright arises automatically upon creation; no registration is required for protection. Requirements for Protection A work must fall within a protected category (such as sound recordings or broadcasts) and must be original,
meaning it results from the author’s own skill, labour and judgment. In sport, copyright typically protects: • broadcast footage and replay packages; • competition logos, branding and artistic assets; • written materials (eg, match reports, statistics com - pilations, coaching resources); and • recorded crowd sounds or performance footage. Live sporting events themselves are not protected, as they are not considered authored works. Registration The UK has no formal copyright registry. Parties may use third-party deposit services to evidence author - ship or creation dates but doing so does not cre - ate rights. Automatic protection enables immediate enforcement without administrative steps. Defences to Infringement Statutory exceptions provide defences in specific cir - cumstances, including: • fair dealing for reporting current events, criticism or review; • incidental inclusion of a work in a broadcast or film; • temporary technological copies necessary for law - ful transmission; and • limited public interest defences. These are frequently relevant to sports reporting, social media commentary and short-form highlights. Database Rights The UK also recognises a separate sui generis data - base right protecting databases where there has been substantial investment in obtaining, verifying or presenting data. This right exists independently of copyright, which may additionally apply if the data - base structure is sufficiently original. It is particularly significant for: • performance statistics; • scouting databases; • fixture lists; and • rankings and competition datasets.
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