Abstract:
Sport publicity or image right is a right by which athlete finds exclusive right in exploiting his publicity, image, personality and identity and can grant others the permission to use them and on the other hand, prevent the unauthorized use of this right by others. Having regarded the approaches of leading legal systems in such field, this article analyses the process of formation and recognition of this right for athletes and examines the reasons for its existence and its justifications and solutions against who infringe this legal right. In some legal systems, image right has been recognized as an independent right and commercial value attached to the identity of athletes, regarding some exceptions, is legally under protection. Registration of images as trademarks, exploiting the potentials of passing off actions and trade secrets system as well as dilutions actions, help athletes supporting their rights in such field. Although In Iranian law the existence of some obscure regulations beside some general rules such as the necessity of protection the rights relating to the personality and civil responsibilities may solve some problems but the results of this paper indicate the ambiguity and in efficiency of Iranian's existing regulations and legal literature regarding the effective protection of athletes' rights to their publicity and images, which necessitate employing the established rules in this domain in order to fill the gaps and correct the legal deficiencies.
Machine summary:
Famous athletes today are very vigilant about protecting their image and personality rights and, by using the resulting commercial reputation, have registered their names and images as trademarks and, through licensing and sponsorship contracts, receive large sums from companies that seek to associate themselves with them to expand the market for their products, which has led to their signs and images turning into famous international brands.
In this article, by studying leading legal systems, including the United States and European Union member countries, we seek to explain the concept of the right to commercial reputation and the image of athletes and the standards for its protection.
This right has not been uniformly recognized in all systems; for example, in American law, 'passing off, meaning the misuse of an unregistered trademark' claims are still used as a mechanism to protect the images and credibility of famous personalities in some states.
In another famous lawsuit, a Pennsylvania state court in the US condemned the commercial use of the name and reputation of "Hogan," a famous golfer; because the court determined that given his prominent personality in sports, a type of proprietary right to his name and images could be considered for him, which possesses significant commercial value that allows Hogan to receive financial compensation for the unauthorized use of his reputation (Scott, 2015: 312).
Based on this, the right to publicity in American law is considered a type of intellectual property right and a type of proprietary right that, independent of the right to privacy, allows famous athletes to commercially benefit from their names, images, and likeness (Baker & Esherick, 2013: 123).
(
, 
, 
)
