IPT Italy

eSports

Cheating in Esports tournaments – legal arguments for discouraging bad players

By / / Commercial, Copyright, eSports, Intellectual Property, IP, Sport

by Giulio Coraggio, Vincenzo Giuffrè and Micaela Jerusalmi The Esports market has been booming over the last years and the recent Covid-19 strict regulations impacting the sports sector and imposing social distancing have greatly increased the focus on Esports competitions so far. Even with this scenario, the legal challenges for global Esports online platforms and …

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DLA Piper esports Laws of the World is now live!

By / / General

DLA Piper esports Laws of the World is meant to be a review of the main legal issues affecting eSports in the main jurisdictions worldwide.

After months of hard work with our colleagues all around the world, we are ready for the launch of DLA Piper eSports Laws of the World. It was the result of fantastic teamwork, which shows the commitment of our firm to provide our clients with innovative tools to support their business.

The esport market has been booming over the last years, but unfortunately, or fortunately, in some cases, regulations have not been able to catch up. Gambling, sports, and prize promotion/advertising rules might apply to esports events, impose restrictions or grant exemptions, depending on how and where they are organized. The possible variants include the following: is the esports tournament online or landbased? Is a country recognizing esports as an official sport? Can any type of prize be awarded to participants? What are the technical requirements to be complied with? And what is the actual risk of penalties?

Top 5 takeaways from the Games Industry Law Summit

By / / General

Significant insights came out from the discussions on the present and future of video gaming law at the Games Law Industry Summit in Vilnius. My colleague Vincenzo Giuffré and I attended the event and tried to summarize our top 5 takeaways from the summit below: 1. Transparency and players’ protection are a priority in all the major jurisdictions Transparency …

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DLA Piper eSports law booklet

By / / Advertising, Consumers, Copyright, eSports, Gaming and Betting, Intellectual Property, Sport

The eSports market has grown at a tremendous pace over the past few years becoming a half billion dollar industry and it is quickly seducing an increasing number of fans, operators and investors. Beside the huge growth, the industry is rapidly evolving, going from content consumed largely through streaming platforms to network-backed streaming services.

The eSports law booklet from the Italian IPT team of DLA Piper covers a number of current and upcoming legal issues of eSports and how to deal with them in order to help companies operating in the market to better understand the issues that are arising and to which the eSports industry in some cases does not still have a good answer.

How do you spell e-Stadium?

By / / Intellectual Property, Sport

The majority of legal analysis concerning the raise of e-Sports tends to coagulate around the main stakeholders, i.e. the IP owners, the broadcasters, the sponsors and the e-athletes and teams, focusing on the appropriate way to discipline their relationships, possibly against a regulated background capable of dealing with gambling, e-doping and, more generally, with the requirements and rules set by laws, sport authorities and similar bodies.

There is however a missing piece in this picture: the audience, i.e. the increasing crowd interested to see the e-games, possibly attending live events, with the opportunity to meet their idols and see them play live.

eSports between Italian prize promotion and gambling rules

By / / General

eSports tournaments can be subject to stringent restrictions under Italian prize promotion and gambling rules if adequate solutions are not adopted.

The eSports market is rapidly growing and the data below show a massive boost from 2012 up to now in 2019 $ 130 million to $ 1,187 million, with a further fast increase in the coming years.

eSports: a new frontier for the advertising law and image rights?

By / / Advertising, General, IP, Sport

eSports competitions have recently become a trend topic among sports and gaming lovers.

An ever-growing number of major sports leagues and pro young players are getting involved in this global competitive industry, together with an increasing turnover. By 2020, eSports is predicted to become a billion-dollar industry.

This explosive growth of digital sports championships captured the attention of many leading companies – operating in various lines of business – which are gradually approaching this new phenomenon by investing into eSports in the hope of targeting its relevant audience.

Top 3 predictions for eSports in 2019

By / / Gaming and Betting, IT & Sourcing

The eSports industry is in a period of rapid growth, but the growth of a market often leads to legal issues and obstacles that need to be overcome in order to achieve its potentials.

There is at the moment a range of legal and business issues where eSports need a more comprehensive approach involving learnt lessons from the sports and the gambling sectors.

Below are our top 3 predictions on the legal issues that will affect the eSports industry in 2019.

Loot boxes reviewed by the US Federal Trade Commission and in Australia

By / / General

The Australian Senate Environment and Communications References Committee advised the Australian Government to undertake a comprehensive review of loot boxes within video games. The report published by Australian Authorities noted that loot boxes are “not a homogeneous entity” and there are many different iterations of the mechanic.However, a range of stakeholders, including regulatory agencies and academics, referred to the committee that loot boxes should be assessed on a case-by-case basis. In this respect, it should be considered that there are a number of types of loot boxes available in video games.

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