As the Summer 2024 Olympics in Paris commences, the United States Olympic & Paralympics Committee (USOPC) is vigilant against unauthorized use of its trademarks. The USOPC filed a lawsuit against a U.S. beverage company, alleging the use of Olympic-related terms like “OLYMPIC” and “TEAM USA” without permission. These trademarks are vital for the USOPC’s funding … Continue Reading
Former Arsenal Manager, Arsène Wenger famously said “We have gone from a vertical society to a horizontal society where everybody has an opinion about every decision you make, and everybody has an opinion on the Internet straight away.”[1] In 2024, Wenger’s words could not be more relatable. The internet has many wonderful features. It allows … Continue Reading
With the summer Olympic Games rapidly approaching, the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) recently announced new guidance for social and digital media at the 2024 games. Our colleagues at SPB’s Global IP & Tech blog took an interesting look at how social media guidelines are evolving and how athletes, brands and spectators will experience the games … Continue Reading
After years in the making, the Online Safety Act (the “OSA”) has come into force after receiving Royal Assent on 26 October 2023 (as discussed in our blog here). Amidst the proliferation of social media use, there has been a worrying increase in the levels of abuse that players, athletes, officials, managers, coaches and other … Continue Reading
As reported in our previous article published in 2019, the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) have been focussing for some time on protecting children and young persons through their regulation of gambling advertising. Under the current rules, gambling ads are prohibited only if they appeal ‘particularly’ to under-18s, which CAP considers means if an ad … Continue Reading
This article originally appeared in Law360 on February 15, 2022. Authored by Alexis Montano, Real Estate Associate, Phoenix, AZ. The metaverse is a mix of augmented virtual reality that operates with the help of blockchain functions such as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and cryptocurrencies. Think of the metaverse as a universe with several platforms making … Continue Reading
On 3 September 2021, The FA announced that Marc Bola (“the Player”), of Middlesbrough FC, had been charged with misconduct for an alleged Aggravated Breach of the FA Rules, 2021/2022 (“the 2022 Rules”), rules E3.1 and E3.2 (“the Charge”). The Charge related to a Tweet the Player posted from his Twitter account on 14 April … Continue Reading
Picture the scene. It is the 109th minute in extra time of a decisive World Cup Qualifying Play Off. You are captaining your country against a team fuelled by the dream of reaching a World Cup in what would be extraordinary circumstances given the turmoil that the nation has faced throughout its campaign. You score … Continue Reading
On Sunday 12 February 2017, golf’s European Tour unveiled a ‘revolutionary and novel short form of the game’ which is designed to ‘embrace innovation and originality in professional golf’. The first GolfSixes event will take place in North West London on 6-7 May 2017 and will feature two-man teams from 16 European nations. The teams … Continue Reading
It seems there is seldom a time when social media is not in the spotlight one way or another and the sporting world is no exception. Most recently, we have seen incidences of athletes falling foul of their governing body’s social media policies, such as Pittsburgh Steelers’ Antonio Brown who earlier this week found himself … Continue Reading
“Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” – Othello, Act 2, Scene III As is so often the case with Shakespeare, Iago’s comments to Cassio seem as relevant today as they were nearly 400 years ago. Gone then is Sam Allardyce as England’s football manager as … Continue Reading
On 15 September 2016, the New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills 37-31 in the Bills’ New Era Field. Never has there been a more aptly named stadium for a game… The Jets v Bills game was streamed live on social media site Twitter, a first for the NFL. Twitter streamed the US national network … Continue Reading
