What is Esport Law?

Esports law is a specialized field that deals with the legal aspects of the competitive video gaming industry. It encompasses several areas, such as player and team agreements, intellectual property, advertising, sponsorship and endorsement deals, privacy, gambling regulation, and tournament rules.

Esports lawyers help players, teams, and organisations navigate the legal complexities of the industry and also offer legal advice on broadcasting and streaming events.

Esports have become a rapidly growing industry with millions of fans and billions of dollars in revenue.

Professional esports players typically form part of teams, which pay them a salary and provide training resources and opportunities for tournament participation.

For players, the main legal concerns are player agreements, endorsement and sponsorship deals, which may involve displaying sponsored branding or speaking on products in tournaments, online or at other public events. Players often have an online presence in content creation and streaming, which provides additional opportunities for individual and team sponsorships.

A significant issue in esports law is the imbalance of negotiating power between players and teams, and unfair terms in player agreements.

Standard form player agreements don’t really exist at the moment, and agreements are regularly either extremely simplified, causing major legal uncertainty for all parties, or deeply unfair to the player, particularly concerning termination rights and sponsorship earnings.

Players have found themselves in situations where they are committed to a team for an extended period with limited compensation that may seem too small as they develop their skills and their own fan base. Teams should be careful also as unfair terms may breach the law.

All parties involved in these agreements should be mindful of the long-term impacts and consider consulting with an esports lawyer.

When entering into endorsement agreements, brands should conduct thorough due diligence before signing. Team owners and players often have long social media trails that may include commentary that could backfire on the brand once an individual becomes its public face in esports.

Another key area of concern in the esports industry is intellectual property, which includes copyright and trademark. Esports lawyers help to ensure that the rights of game developers and publishers are protected, whether they're running their own tournaments or licensing their games to third-party organisers.

Esports law is a rapidly evolving and dynamic field, and having more esports lawyers can help players, teams, and organisations navigate the industry's legal complexities.

Esport law is an area that we are passionate about and if you have any questions or require any assistance, get in touch with me at: caleb@kingsnorthlaw.com.au