Thread by @esmeraldo99

So on Thursday while I was tweeting an #IPSERIES on Patent infringement I was tagged to this post 👇🏾. So on this rainy Saturday morning in Port Harcourt, I will be talking about the ”The New Regulation on Broadcasting Right in relation to Sporting Rights in Nigeria” @MaxxyB 🤗

The new regulation issued from the office of the Minister of Information & Culture prohibiting exclusive rights (license) in broadcasting sports event🤔
To me, this not a step back but rather it defeats the purpose of IP.

Let me explain.

First of all, Sports is a business and it's one of the most profitable in the world.
Now Nigeria has a country has failed to tap into the business side of law especially when it comes to IP.

”The main purpose of intellectual property law is to encourage the creation of a wide

variety of intellectual goods for consumers. It also strikes the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.”

@Ayo_Mhidey

Broadcasting right is one of the exclusive right an IP owner has in a Copyright & Related Right where the cooperation between the relevant stakeholders is established.
Tv and media houses pay huge sums of money in order to get the exclusive right to broadcast not just top sports

events but sports events generally.
Take a look at the works protected by copyright

”For most sports organizations, the sale of broadcasting and media rights is one of the biggest sources of revenue in generating funds needed to finance major sporting events, refurbish stadiums and contribute to the development of sport at the grassroots level”

Also ”any royalty earned from selling exclusive footage to other media outlets can be used to invest in the costly organizational and technical infrastructure used in broadcasting this sporting event globally”

I will be focusing my #IPSERIES on this tweet

https://twitter.com/nigeriagov/status/1215313069137711104?s=21

When something is exclusive it means that it is restricted to a particular person, group etc.
And when it comes to IP this is not negotiable

https://twitter.com/nigeriagov/status/1215313069137711104

Last year the #WorldIPDay theme was on ”Reach for Gold: IP & Sports made emphasis on the fusion of Sports and IP.
According to @WIPO the following are stakeholders in the spotting industry:
A. Athletes, Teams and their trainers
B. Sports Federation
C. Broadcasters and other

media platforms
D. Organizers of sports events
E. Corporate Sponsors
F. Manufacturers of sports equipment
G. Sports fans
Everyone listed above is very relevant and has a role in the success of the Sports industry.

Now how can these stakeholders exploit the fusion of Sports & IP?

First, we need to understand what intellectual property rights (IPRs) are in relation to Sports events.
Secondly, understand the fusion of IP and sports. and thirdly, how to make money from sports through IPRs.

1. Copyright protection - any work that has to do with broadcasting every sports event would need to be covered and transmitted to various mediums such as TV, radio etc in order to engage the fans all over the world while attracting future sponsors and investors.

For instance, Forbes had estimated $3.5 billion as the television broadcasting rights revenue for FIFA between 2015-2018 cycle so one can see how lucrative it is for sports event organizers to key into every medium to generate funds.

Sporting events have been said to add to the economic growth of a country for example, when London won the bid for the 2012 Olympics, the UK economy saw a £9.9bn boost in trade and investment from hosting the event.😱

IP protection such as Copyright ”is crucial in ensuring that stakeholders can continue to generate revenues, which are then redistributed for the benefit of sports and athletes around the world.”

According to Alexander Schaub, ”TV rights of sports events play an important role in the development of TV market & TV rights for popular sports like football which have become a subject if highly competitive bidding wars between TV channels used for the benefit of sports club &

federation.
As a Nigerian do you think the government needs to do better in developing the sports industry?

Do you prefer to watch live sports events on TV or physically?

Do you think we have enough sports coverage for sports in Nigeria?

Alexander Schaub further listed the following as characteristics of sports coverage:
A. Viewers are more interested in live shows (Is this true)

B. Substitution is different because you can't watch all sports events being covered (man's needs are insatiable🙃)
C. The concentration of rights in the hands of sports federation reduces the number of rights available 🤔( do you agree?)

Here's a link to an article by @MaxxyB on the interplay of IPRs in Sports

medium.com/@Beverley_7413…

2. Sponsorship agreement and deals: Sport teams, athletes and organizers can get funds through this means whereby all parties involved go into a signed agreement where one party receives funds for more exposure and the other is more or less an investor hoping to make more profit

Here's a link to an article by Nick De Marco QC on ”Third Party ownership in football”😎
sportslawbulletin.org/tpo-football-w…

4. Trademarks in sports: Athletes and sports organizers can take advantage of registering their marks in as many classes as they want and can afford to, in order to stand out and distinguish their brands from other so as to avoid confusion amongst consumers/fans ✌️🏾

And now to the koko remember the tweet in this 👇🏾let's get to it

5. Exclusive and non exclusive license- brand and IP owners can explore means of commercializing their IP by going into an exclusive or non-exclusive licensing agreement with the licensee

(that is the person who wishes to make use of the product with their permission and consent for a fixed duration and for a fee also known as royalty).
Licenses grants rights without transferring ownership of an IP to the licensee, it also gives the licensor “enormous strategic,

marketing and earning potential“.
Do you think the new regulation is fair to people who made efforts to get an exclusive license to broadcast live sports event to share with other broadcasters because the government says so?

Wouldn't that amount to a breach of the exclusive license agreement with the licensor?
I think we ought to learn to respect the terms and conditions of an agreement no after what the intentions of the government may be I do not think this is the right way to go

I had to do a little research on what the National Broadcasting Commission Act states when it comes to exclusive licensee sharing their license with other broadcasters.
See sections, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 15 of the Act

Section 8 (1) of the Nigerian Copyright Act provides as follows:

”copyright in a broadcast shall be the exclusive right to control the doing of the following acts in Nigeria, that is-

(a) the recording and the re-broadcast of the whole or a substantial part of the broadcast;

b) the communication to the public of the whole or a substantial part of a television broadcast, either in its original form or in any form recognisably derived from the original; and
c) the distribution to the public for the commercial purposes, of copies of the work, by way

of rental, lease, hire, loan or similar arrangement”
As a copyright owner in order to ensure ownership in a work, it is important that you sign an written agreement to that effect with the author stating that the copyright is either being transferred or licensed before

commencing work.
Ownership of copyright in a broadcast is for a duration of 20 years to authorize re-broadcasting. See the Rome Convention of 1961 ( this is an international convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Photogram & Broadcasting Organizations)

Copyright owners have economic and moral rights in a work.
Economic rights protect the author’s economic interest and allow the author to earn a profit directly or indirectly through the exploitation of his work.
Moral right basically protects the creator’s creative integrity

and reputation as expressed through a work.
Which of these right do you think a licensee is entitled to?

Exclusive right that accompanies economic rights.

i. Right to reproduce copies of the work in various forms
ii. Right to distribute the work to the public
iii. Right to rent or lend copies of the work
iv. Right to make translation or adaptation

v. Right to commission the work to the public, perform, show or play the work in public
vi. Right to derivative work- this is a work based on a pre-existing copyrighted work
For moral right, a copyright owner has the right to be named as the author of the work (paternity right)

and right to protect the integrity of the work which prohibits making changes, modification or alterations to a work that tend to damage the author’s honour or reputation.
However, moral rights can not be transferred because they are personal to the author

According to Kanchana Kariyawasam & Mattew Tsai the unauthorized retransmission of live sports telecast over the internet has become one of the main concerns in sports media, where broadcasters have lost billions of dollars worth of sports broadcasting contracts &

Would you prefer to watch a live match on TV or at the Stadium?

sponsorship deals.
This seems very scary with no solution in sight, let’s bring back home (Nigeria) are we prepared to deal with issues faced in the sports industry as a result of the digital disruption?
Would sharing an exclusive license solve anything

In 2014, the UK TV broadcasting stations such as Sky Sports and BT Sports where given conditions to be met in order to be granted license to broadcast sports events for a period of 3 years and so would like to protect whatever benefit they are supposed to get from each broadcast.

In 2019 ”Sky and BT Sport retained broadcasting right on live televised Premier League football, paying £4.464bn to the clubs for the rights to the five main packages of matches from 2019-22.
Can this been one in Nigeria to boost and encourage sports teams and stakeholders?

”Since it's inception in 1992, the English Premier League (EPL) has sold its media rights collectively, that is by negotiating directly with broadcasters on behalf of EPL’s member clubs”
Can our leagues do the same?
I mean think about it for a second.

I think we can and we will 😀 I am going to say it again ”Sports is a business”, we need to change our mindset within this jurisdiction and all hands needs to be on deck.
Now let's have a look at what our competition law states😎

On January 30th, 2019, our President, General Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR signed into law the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2019 (the Act).
The Act is a competition regulator empowered to prevent and punish anti-competitive practices, regulate mergers,

takeovers and acquisitions, and protect regulated industries in every sector and location in Nigeria.
Most of the argument I have seen and read with regards to the new regulation were pointing fingers at DSTV for monopolizing sports broadcast 👀 what are my thoughts?

I don't think they are especially with regards to the FCCPA 2019 on prohibition of monopoly see specifically sections 76, 80-82 and 87.
Where any monopoly is found to exist, the Tribunal’s efforts may include prohibition of an acquisition transaction, business break-up, forced

publication of price lists, etc.

The following are the list of clubs in the Nigeria Premier League:
Kano Pillars (Kano State) Sharks, Dolphins (Rivers State) Bayelsa United, Enyimba (Abia State).
How have they been able to not only exploit their IP but also protect it?

This is possible through merchandising, sponsorship, license (exclusive and non exclusive license), TV broadcast rights, brand exploitation, brand sports publication, registering of their trademarks (such as tagline, logos, slogans, emblems, signs which have commercial value

) endorsements and advertisement contract.
Rounding up😩
The following can be put in place by federal government and all relevant stakeholders:
1. Organize a trainings for the relevant bodies and stakeholders on exploring the business side of sports through IP.

2. Have good sports policy.
3. Engage the right people to come up with solutions that would be implemented.
4. Explore resolving sports dispute through mediation, negotiation and arbitration.
5. Understand that all IPs are territorial in nature.

6. I hope the government rethinks this regulation which is said to take effect later this month and come up with a better regulation that exploits the business side of sports and intellectual property (IP)

See you next time on another #IPSERIES ✌️🏾