DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Frederik Bruhn, Tim Krarup Nielsen, Robert Jønsson and Rasmus Theis Madsen, DAHL Law Firm
5.3 Image Rights and Other IP Legal Recognition of Image Rights
5.4 Licensing General Transfer of Commercial Rights Athletes can license or assign their IP rights through agreements with clubs, sponsors, or third parties. This typically occurs through: • player contracts, where athletes grant clubs the right to use their name, image, and like - ness in club context for marketing and spon - sorship purposes; and • sponsorship agreements, which allow com - panies to use the athlete’s image in their mar - keting campaigns under specified conditions. Licensing Agreements Between Clubs and Athletes Sports clubs rely heavily on commercialising player image rights to generate revenue through merchandising, sponsorships, and promotions. The brand value of a club is often linked to its most well-known players, meaning that high- profile athletes can significantly increase a club’s commercial appeal. In Danish football and handball, all player con - tracts must follow the federations’ standard con - tract templates, according to which image rights and exploitation hereof are regulated. All football player contracts must be approved by the DBU, and any deviations from the standard provisions are subject to DBU approval, which, as a rule, will not be given. Licensing and Image Rights Under DBU’s Standard Player Contract The DBU standard player contract, which is sub - ject to the Football Collective Agreement, con - tains a detailed regulation on the clubs’ exploita - tion of the players’ image rights. Thus, the club has the right to use the player’s name, image, and autograph in a club context in merchandis -
Athletes have an exclusive right to commer - cially exploit their image rights – ie, to use their own name, likeness, voice, and other person - ally identifiable characteristics. This protection is particularly relevant for high-profile athletes whose commercial value increases with public recognition. In Denmark, the legal basis for the protection of image rights stems from general legal principles developed through case law and Section 3 of the Danish Marketing Practices Act. Case Law on Image Rights Protection Danish courts have consistently upheld the commercial protection of athletes’ image rights, particularly in cases where their name, image or likeness has been used for unauthorised market- ing purposes. Limits of Image Rights Protection While athletes have strong commercial protec - tion, image rights do not extend to objective publicity or journalistic use. Names and images may be legally used for editorial, news, or jour - nalistic purposes, provided there is no mislead - ing commercial association. However, blurred distinctions between marketing and editorial content especially on social media platforms have led to increased legal scrutiny in Denmark. Therefore, companies must care - fully distinguish between genuine sports news and marketing initiatives using athletes’ names or images. According to Danish case law, the awarded damages or compensation in cases concerning unauthorised commercial use of image rights, are relatively modest.
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