The Importance of IP Rights in Sport: Global IP & Patents Meeting London 2008 (Papers‪)‬

Introductory: The Commercialisation of Sport Sport is now big business accounting for more than 3% of world trade. In the European Union, sport has developed into a discrete business worth more than 2% of the combined GNP of the twenty-seven Member States. Indeed, according to Sepp Blatter, the President of FIFA, the World Governing Body of Football, and I would entirely agree with him, sport is now a 'product' in its own right, and there is much to play for not only on but also off the field of play. Whether this is a good thing as far as the integrity of sport is concerned is, of course, another matter!