UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Jamie Singer and Flora Peel, Onside Law
5.4 Licensing Licensing
• improve athletic performance; • engage with fans;
Intellectual property possesses significant intrin - sic value to both sports governing bodies and players/athletes in the UK, each of whom regu - larly license their IP rights. By way of example, a UK sports governing body may own all of the IP rights in a new event for - mat, including the trade mark to the name of that event and the copyright in its rules and reg - ulations. These can be licensed, as individual rights or as a package, to the various different stakeholders involved in the hosting of that event (such as venues), those participating (teams or players/athletes) and to those exploiting com - mercial and media rights (such as broadcasters, sponsors and official suppliers). The exploitation of IP through a licensing struc - ture enables the rights-holder to retain control and ownership of the relevant rights, as well as generate revenue from the use thereof. The continued exploitation of these rights will also increase goodwill and brand value for the rights- holder over time. Assignment Broadly speaking, the only formality required to effectively assign UK IP rights is for the assignment to be in writing and to be signed by the assigning and assignee parties. In certain instances – for example, in the case of regis - tered trade marks – the assignment must also be recorded at the UK IPO to update the official record.
• protect the integrity of their sport; and • enhance sponsor/media rights packages. Sports bodies are also increasingly licensing official data directly to third parties, particularly betting companies. Kevin De Bruyne previously engaged an analyt - ics company to assist his contract negotiations with Manchester City. The company (Analytics FC) used an algorithm to project De Bruyne’s future performances. Based on this data, he negotiated the terms of his contract with Man - chester City. The following is a snapshot of sports data activi - ties by sports bodies and other stakeholders in the UK in the past few years: • In 2020, England Rugby trialled the training use of “smart” rugby ball which collects data on the speed and distance of passes – in 2021, this trial was extended further with the use of “smart ball” in the 2021 Women’s Six Nations. • Liverpool FC has signed a deal with Deep - Mind to explore the use of AI in football – it can be used, for example, to determine what impact a tactical change may have, or the changes a team may make in the event of injuries. • The England and Wales Cricket Board was forced to rely on Depth App, which recorded player data, when a COVID-19 outbreak forced all of the soon-to-be participating England cricket team into isolation, with the information then being used to aid selectors in finding in-form cricketers to form a squad against Pakistan.
5.5 Sports Data Use of Sports Data
Sports bodies and other stakeholders in the UK are using sports data in increasingly sophisti - cated ways to, among other things:
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