The sports have been considered as a very important part of the country. Various sports are played in-country at the international level. There was a time were sports was considered as an activity but, with the time, sports became a crucial aspect and it also demanded a need for laws related to it.
The main issue that stands with sports is Intellectual Property Rights. The intellectual property rights are very important to safeguard anything from being used by any non- compliant authority. The cases that have been registered in India concerning sports are not seen as much. However, every other country such as the USA has advanced the scope of the sport and is the need of our country.
The legislature, judiciary and the administration, all need to take severe steps to provide stringent legislatures concerning sports. Such legislation which would also provide for the IPR protection to the sports law in the country. This will resolve many issues related to broadcasting, copyrighting and some important rights saved.
AUTHORITIES OF SPORTS IN INDIA
Various governing bodies in India are not governed under the Ministry of Sports of India. the body is BCCI for cricket, Indian Hockey Federation, All India Football federation etc. all the bodies are individual and not concerned with the state. However, in the case of Zee Telefilms v. Union of India,it was considered by the Supreme Court that BCCI denied to a part of the governing authority but, this should not be the case as it is important to have a proper governing authority for the bodies. This was stated considering the importance of sports in the country.
For making the Sports Law a well-framed and a stringent one, it is important to remove the individuality of the authorities. Since there is not a proper code for governing sports in India, The National Sports Development Code, 2011 does the governing. It governs the National Sports Federation of the country. In the case of Indian Olympic Association v Union of India, the validity of the above-mentioned code was upheld by the Delhi High Court.
PREVAILING SPORTS LAW IN INDIA
The Constitutional entry 33 in List II makes it difficult for making sports as a national reform as it puts the sports in the list of the state legislature. At present, sports bodies are said to make rules and regulations for sports. Such teams constitute of some members that take over the authority and take actions over the errors that arise. Strict actions are taken against them.
Such bodies are considered for selecting members for the sports at different levels. The rights related to broadcasting and telecasting is also given by these bodies. This means that not the legislature but, the bodies. This means that everybody makes rules on its own and does not coordinate with each other. This can lead to severe problems and the infringement of the rights by a third party too.
It’s not the sports law that is presently prevailing in the country but, the authorities that prevail over the rules and rules and regulations of the sports. The authorities that are at present are individual and therefore, they are away from the legislations and the governing authorities of the Central Government.
THE NEED FOR IPR IN SPORTS
Every commodity of any activity such as art, sports etc needs branding to increase its value. The branding means that a name, logo, tagline that legally becomes reserved. The reservation is done through IPR laws. The laws provide different kinds of rights such as copyright, trademark and patent depending on the type.
Different kinds of IPR are needed for different sectors of sports. The need forthe patent is for reserving the rights of emerging new records in the field of sports. Similarly, the need forthe trademark is for the players who become successful and derive their team for a sport. The trademarking of such things will increase the loyalty of the viewers too. Designs are important to make sports assets more valuable.
Also, copyrights play a vital role. The broadcasting of sports is an important aspect. This is the way of earning revenue for further development. This also constitutes the main issue in the sports industry because sometimes, the unknown authorities broadcast the matches effecting the contracts of the sports authorities with the channels.
IPR LAWS IN THE COUNTRY: NEED FOR NEW LEGISLATION
Several IPR laws in India act prevail in the country for the different kinds of Intellectual Property Rights. These laws provide for the guidelines and the rules and regulations concerning intellectual property rights. However, some points lag in them concerning sports. The changes needed under sports in the laws are as follows:
The Copyright Act, 1957- the act consists of all the information related to the copyrights, rules, regulations and other essentials. These are not being collectively followed in the sports field and there arises the problem. The amendment can be done in the act adding “sports” as an important definition in the interpretation clause and in the other sections through which it becomes clear about the areas where sports need the copyright.
Trademarks Act, 1999- the changes needed in this act is also similar to that of mentioned for the copyright act.
The other minor acts such as the act of patents and design must also get the amendments done. However, these acts provide for the information regarding these intellectual property rights in general. The increasing diversity of the sports in the country, a separate legislature for implementing these copyrights is needed. The legislature can be implemented to safeguard different aspects of sports.
The legislature can be implemented in the following way:
• The interpretation clause having the definition of all the important terms related to sports.
• The provisions having the procedures to get the rights reserved.
• The items and the procedures related to sports that need intellectual property rights.
• The punishments also need to be mentioned for giving punishments to the people not following the law.
• The miscellaneous part concerning the powers and authorities.
In this way, proper central legislation can be formed that can look after the sports in the country. This will prevent frauds and unwanted consequences.
NEED FOR STRINGENT SPORTS LAW
The laws in India concerning laws are much backward in comparison to laws in the USA, France and other countries. The reason for the same might be less importance given to the legislature of sports and derogatory powers of the authorities. The IPR Laws exist in the country but, they need minor amendments. However, this is not the only backlog that exists. The implementation of the existing laws is also not proper. The reason might be the absence of the single governing authority.
The division of powers to the different authorities make it difficult to implement all the rules in the same way. It is important to have a central legislature that also mentions the powers and limitations of such authorities. This will help in keeping a check over the activities of such bodies. This will ensure that all the authorities are following their duties.
The main impact will on the IPR of sports. The legislation will keep a check about having all the important rights reserved. This will make sports a better reserved activity. Sports in India has made it proud many times and the players give their best. However, sometimes they face the problem due to the absence of the proper sports law.
The Chapter of IPR in the sports law which might include the criteria, compulsions, punishments and every needed step to make sports an IPR oriented area. This is for the assurance of the people who play and who invest money. The major problem in relation the broadcasting will also be resolved after following the minute steps. These steps can bring about major changes that will lead to reformation in sports in the country.
One of the most important feature of IPR in sports law is to prevent Ambus Marketing. The meaning of Ambus Marketing can be clearly drawn out from the landmark case of National Hockey League (NHL) vs. Pepsi-Cola Canada Ltd, where a controversy arose between Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola, where Coca Cola was appointed as the official sponsor of the tournament by NHL while Pepsi has broadcasted an advertisement claiming to be the official drink of the tournament, the judgement states that there can be no claim of passing-off in the present case by Pepsi-cola. Ambus Marketing can be broadly be classified as attacking in a latent way. Therefore there is urgent need to prevent the copyrights and trademark of the owners through proper registrations of logo, brand , marks etc. which are linked with the sporting event
CONCLUSION
The condition of the sports law is not so proper in the country. The authorities that are prevailing in the country are also not concerning the governmental authorities. This means that there is no inclusion of the government in the sports law. the Central Authorities that must be concerned with the sports are not included. This means that making the authorities the governmental bodies is the need of the hour. This is because the rules and regulations they make might contradict with each other and this will never lead to a solution of having stringent laws concerning the IPR and sports.
The need for IPR is much more that can be explained. The problems that are being faced in the present era can decrease the importance of sports in the country shortly. This is because the people whoa re-associated with it might be having some expectations regarding the reservation of their rights. The existing problems are showcasing the other side.
Therefore, the need for stringent sports law is more than the need for the amendments in the present IPR laws. This is because the enforcement of such laws will not be seen in such away before we have a central authority governing it. As soon as the authorities will have a hold above them to show them the right path, the decisions taken by them will be more accurate. The much need for sports law is increasing day by day along with the increase in the problems. Also, when fresh legislation will be drafted, the judiciary will have better look upon the issues of the sports and the amendments to it can be made in the coming future for dealing with the situations along with the time.
“Intellectual-property rules are clearly necessary to spur innovation: if every invention could be stolen, or every new drug immediately copied, few people would invest in innovation. But too much protection can strangle competition and can limit what economists call ‘incremental innovation’ – innovations that build, in some way, on others.”
—James Surowiecki
