4 8 August 2006

News:

UK Athletics will support a proposal from Lord Coe, who is a member of the International Association of Athletics Federations' ruling council, to ban any athlete who has been convicted of a doping offence from world and continental championship events for life,even if it is a first offence.Lord Coe will put the proposal to the IAAF's Congress in Osaka next year.

Spain's football association and football league (RFEF, LFP) have agreed a rule that allows clubs or individuals to buy another club's league position. The rule is part of a 19 July cooperation agreement until 2010.

A US court has ruled that the names and statistics of Major League Baseball (MLB)players are not copyrightable and can be used by fantasy sports league operators at no cost.

Features:

A recent UK case shows that for those considering raising claims in libel on internet publications, it is essential to provide cogent grounds for believing that the material was published to identifiable third parties and was downloaded and read within the jurisdiction. Ian Felstead, a solicitor at Olswang, examines the case.

Until recently, many sports governing bodies assumed they could claim 'sporting exception' from EU law when drawing up doping regulations and sanctions. Ian Blackshaw, international sports lawyer and CAS arbitrator and mediator, explains how David MecaMedina and Igor Majcen's appeal to the European Court of Justice resulted in a ruling that will require sports governing bodies to consider the economic and social effects of their regulations under EU law.

The recent ruling by the ECJ in the Meca-Medina case has provided clarification on the way in which future challenges to the regulation of sport should be set out. Erika Szyszczak, a barrister with Littleton Chambers and professor of European Competition and Labour Law at the University of Leicester, examines the decision and its implications for sports governing bodies and sports regulatory rules.

In a recent ruling, A WIPO panel has found in favour of the complainant over the use of the domain name 'tomcruise.com'. Pamela Morey-Nase of Rouse & Co International examines the panel's findings.<

Sporting organisations and athletes have different options to consider when staking a claim to an internet domain. H. Kristjan Larusson and Paul Garland, of the Intellectual Property and Technology Group at White & Case LLP, explain different approaches when faced with instances of cybersquatting.

Television presenters, Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, recently managed to claim tax relief for money paid to agents after proving they were 'theatrical artists'. The case highlights anomalies with how the UK taxation system applies to sports people, argues Richard Baldwin, a tax consultant, individual member of the CCPR and recently retired partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP. He says that although it is unlikely that a sports person's claim for relief as a 'theatrical artist' would be successful, lobbying from the sports industry could result in a change in the law.