Sponsorship

This subtopic deals with the law and regulation governing sponsorship, including information about ambush marketing as well as image rights.

Brands are increasingly looking to align themselves with events or content that consumers care about. For this reason sponsors are increasingly aligning themselves with areas outside of the traditional sports sponsorship model, for example there has been significant growth in sponsorship of music events and artists, sectors that brands traditionally shied away from due to the myriad of rights owners.

English law does not recognise the existence of proprietary rights in a sports (or other) event. It follows that there is no such recognised right as ‘sponsorship rights’ to an event, team or league. The sponsorship rights