BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Sven Demeulemeester, Willem-Alexander Devlies and Daan Buylaert, ATFiELD
implied consent given by two track runners who willingly posed for a professional photoshoot). However, consent remains precarious as the athlete may withdraw it for the future (ex nunc – so prior actions are not affected) for valid rea - sons (for the general principles, see Antwerp 7 October 2020, No 2019/AR/656; Rb. Brussels 21 November 2006, No 05/2859/A). Image rights are not absolute. The right to pri - vacy of the individual must be balanced against other rights, such as freedom of expression and the public’s right to information. Consequently, the image of public figures, such as popular athletes, may be used without their consent for informative purposes (eg, a photo of a famous cyclist may be used for an article on the his - tory of cycling – Rb. Brussels 18 November 2010, No 08/10688/A; eg, an author may use the image of the national football team on their book cover – Brussels 12 November 2013, No 2013/KR/234). Informative use is possible, even if the athlete explicitly opposes such use (Rb. Brussels 18 November 2010, No 08/10688/A). Such informative use may not, however, infringe on the athlete’s privacy (for example, a violation for using footage of football players showering naked – Rb. Bruges 27 June 1994). The right to inform the public also does not extend to com - mercial use (eg, Ghent 21 February 2008, No 2005/AR/1734 – a violation for selling posters, deemed a merchandising product, of a famous tennis player; Brussels, 4 October 1989 – a vio - lation for using the image of a judo athlete to
logos of sports organisations). These IP rights can be transferred or licensed to third parties for a fee. Depending on the type of IP right, their licensing or assignment must comply with cer - tain formalities. The economic rights linked to copyrights, data - base rights, and trade mark rights may be trans - ferred or licensed by rights-holders under the following conditions. • Copyrights – an assignment or licence of copyrights must be proved in writing. In addi - tion, the agreement must explicitly specify – for each mode of exploitation – the author’s remuneration, scope and duration of the assignment or licence. • Trade mark rights – a written agreement is required for the assignment of trade mark rights; no such requirement applies to license a trade mark. The assignment or license agreement should be registered to be enforceable vis-à-vis third parties. • Database rights – there are no specific requirements or restrictions to license or assign database rights. Under Belgian copyright law, moral rights are inalienable and rights-holders cannot waive them in their entirety. However, rights-holders may grant consent for exploitation in specific cases and transfer the right to exploit or man - age them (such as to a management company). The same principles apply to image rights. They are not classic IP rights but can be monetised as such. 5.5 Sports Data Use of Sports Data by Sports Bodies and Stakeholders In Belgium, sports data – including athlete per - formance metrics and spectator information – is
promote a car). 5.4 Licensing Licensing of IP Rights
The key IP rights relevant to sports entities and athletes include copyrights and database rights (see 5.2 Copyright/Database Rights ) as well as trade mark rights (for example, athlete names or
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