Charlotte Duly of the MARQUES Education Team reviews Intellectual Property Law and Sports, edited by Justin Koo and Jason Haynes (published by Edward Elgar Publishing, priced £100 (€116) for the hardback and available here].

This book provides a concise yet thorough examination of the relationship between IP law and the sports industry.

The recent World Intellectual Property Day on 26 April 2026 focused on the theme “IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate!”, highlighting the huge importance of interplay between IP and the multi-billion dollar sports industry. This book provides a welcome focus on that subject area.

Key topics covered

The text begins with a review of sports personality rights, contrasting the position in the USA, Canada and United Kingdom with a good overview of the relevant case law. Sections of the book are devoted to important sporting events such as the Olympics.

Of particular current relevance may be the chapter on ambush marketing which is likely to become increasingly talked about over the coming months due to the men’s 2026 FIFA World Cup. Indeed, there is a section of the text devoted to this key sporting event as well as discussing other global World Cups.

This book contains a useful discussion of Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), used to tackle domain names of concern. The elements required to be successful in a UDRP action are broken down and the information provided would be useful to anyone looking to commence such proceedings, not just those in the sporting field.

The subject matter covered is much broader than trade marks, copyright and domain names, expanding into confidential information, patents and designs in the field of sport. The confidential information discussion provides useful food for thought about what could fall under this category, be it training methods or strategic intelligence, for example.

This thorough text also includes a discussion of dispute resolution and a summary of the various options available. Again, this is a particular part of the book that would be a useful guide to anyone, not just those in the sporting field.

Five central themes

The conclusion of the book finds that there are five central themes throughout the chapters, and goes on to state “[t]he overarching theme, which is already well known and documented, relates to the centrality of intellectual property rights and law for the success of sporting endeavours”.

Whilst sport may not in itself be protectable, sporting events, sports personalities and related goods and services, including extensive merchandise, have led to a huge generation of revenue in the world of sports, the majority of which is due to IP rights being available, protected and well utilised.

This book will be of interest to any in the IP field who want to consider the particular challenges and application of IP in this field.

Charlotte Duly is a Partner at D Young & Co LLP in London and Vice-Chair of the MARQUES Education Team. This blog is part of an occasional series of book reviews posted by members of the Team. The picture shows the cover of Intellectual Property Law and Sports