AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Sven Burchartz and Jessica Bell, Kalus Kenny Intelex
supporting and investing in sport in Australia and is funded by the Australian government. The ASC distributes the funds it receives from the Australian government amongst sport at all levels, and is accountable to the Australian Fed - eral Minister for Sport. Some sporting organi - sations in Australia are also funded by way of private investment. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, govern - ment financial support was introduced for small businesses and community sporting organisa - tions. Although the amount of funding grants has decreased, a small number of grants remain available for community sporting organisations, such as the Emergency Sporting Equipment Grant Program and Sporting Clubs Grants Pro - gram (both in Victoria). 4.4 Recent Deals/Trends Private equity continues to be a trend in the Australian sporting sector, although not without hesitation. Private equity investment refers to a situation where a private equity investor raises a pool of capital to form a fund which, once the particular funding goal has been met, will be invested into a company that the investor believes will offer a return. In 2021, the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) sold 33% of the A-League to American private equity firm Silver Lake for AUD140 million with the intention of expanding the A-League Women’s season, providing more support to youth football and a greater investment in digi - tal, marketing and community programmes for the A-League. Rugby Australia (rugby union’s national govern - ing body) also explored multiple capital-raising options throughout 2023. In November 2023, the
governing body announced an agreement with a private equity firm, Pacific Equity Partners, to provide a flexible AUD80 million credit facility to help accelerate growth initiatives, particularly in women’s rugby, community and pathways. Private equity funding has recently been con - sidered in both netball and cricket in Australia. No such deals have proceeded, with an AUD6.5 million deal to privatise Super Netball falling through in August 2022 following Netball Aus - tralia’s rejection of the proposal. More recently, in 2023, Football Australia con - sidered the sale of its rights to the Matildas and Socceroos for a 99-year period. While the proposal advanced significantly, the high com - mercial and privacy risk ultimately led Football Australia to shelve the privatisation plans. 5. Intellectual Property, Data and Data Protection 5.1 Trade Marks Registering a Trade Mark In Australia, any individual, company, or incorpo - rated association may apply to register a trade mark in respect of certain goods or services by filing an application with IP Australia. Subject to certain requirements, a letter, word, name, signature, numeral, device, brand, head - ing, label, ticket, aspect of packaging, shape, colour, sound or scent (provided it is capable of graphical representation) may be registered. What Cannot Be Registered? Certain marks cannot be registered in Australia, including: • marks that are purely descriptive;
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