IP takedowns for Major Events Organisers: A Practical Guide

In this article, Level's Nick White and Holly Ragan draw on key lessons from advising major events organisers on IP takedowns, providing a practical roadmap for organisers looking to protect their IP rights and develop a robust, proactive takedown strategy.

What IP should major tournament organisers be protecting?

Major tournament organisers own expansive IP portfolios that underpin all aspects of their events, from hosting and sponsorship to broadcasting and digital content. Registered trade marks protect tournament names, logos, slogans and official partner branding, providing a clear legal basis for enforcement against unauthorised use. Copyright safeguards broadcast footage, official photography, creative assets and digital content, giving organisers control over how their event is televised, presented and consumed. Registered designs offer protection for distinctive elements of the tournament such as trophy and kit designs. Beyond these core IP rights, organisers may also want to consider protection against ambush marketing using clean zones around event venues and official sponsor exclusivity programmes to prevent unauthorised parties from implying a connection with their events.

Practical tip: Organisers should conduct a pre-event audit of their IP, which in the case of the biggest properties should be at least 18 months before the opening ceremony, to ensure all key rights are registered in relevant jurisdictions and in appropriate languages before the tournament begins. For example, the International Olympic Committee has JUEGOS OLIMPICOS and OLYMPISCHE SPIELE registered in certain countries. 

Common challenges for major events organisers and examples of infringement

One of the most significant challenges facing major event organisers is that infringing activity rarely confines itself to a single market. Counterfeit merchandise may be manufactured in one jurisdiction and sold across several others. Meanwhile, unauthorised broadcasting and streaming often operates through complex international paths involving chains of internet service providers, hosting services and content delivery networks spread across multiple jurisdictions, enabling pirated content to reach global audiences within minutes and making it difficult to identify and target the source of the infringement. These cross-border dimensions demand a well-coordinated network of local counsel who can act swiftly under the relevant national laws and platform-specific procedures. Once a coordinated enforcement network is established, organisers must prioritise their enforcement efforts by focusing on the markets that present the greatest risk and hold the most commercial significance to the event, rather than attempting to tackle every instance of infringement simultaneously. Some of the types of infringing activity that organisers should be most alert to include counterfeit merchandise bearing official tournament branding, unauthorised broadcasting of live event footage, and ambush marketing campaigns that seek to create an unauthorised association with the event.

Practical tip: Collating an infringement database to log each instance of infringing activity by the type of IP at risk, the market in which the activity is occurring, the third party involved and the enforcement action taken is an effective way to track enforcement efforts and facilitate knowledge sharing within the enforcement team. The database can also be used to mitigate against potential further infringement activity before future event cycles.

The IP takedown process:

An effective IP takedown process follows five key stages:

1. The first stage is detection, which involves deploying monitoring tools such as keyword alerts, company name search platforms and intelligence gathered from official partners and licensees to identify potentially infringing activity as early as possible.

2. Once an infringement is detected, the next stage is triage, where the enforcement team gathers evidence including screenshots, purchase records and platform URLs, and prioritises cases according to their commercial impact on the event. 

3. The third stage is action: issuing a formal takedown notice or a cease and desist letter that identifies the organiser's IP rights, specifies the infringing content, sets out the legal basis for infringement (whether grounded in trade mark rights, copyright, contractual rights, statutory provisions or passing off) and clearly states the relief sought, typically a demand to cease and desist infringing activity and the provision of undertakings not to continue doing so. 

4. Where the infringing party refuses to comply with a takedown notice, the process moves to escalation, which may involve seeking urgent injunctive relief for the activity in question, or referring the matter to law enforcement or other local authorities.

5. The final stage is follow-up, which requires ongoing monitoring for the re-upload of previously removed content and the maintenance of a database to track the activity of repeat and new infringers over time.

Key learnings for major events organisers

• Protect IP early: for the biggest events, organisers should aim to have all trade marks, copyright and design rights registered and in force across target jurisdictions at least 12 to 18 months before the event begins, leaving sufficient time to address any objections or oppositions. 

• Coordinate with local counsel: a central enforcement hub should oversee and coordinate the work of local counsel in each jurisdiction to ensure there are no gaps in coverage and that enforcement actions are consistent in approach and timing.

• Engage with platforms early: establishing direct relationships with major online platforms, social media networks and marketplace operators in advance of the event allows organisers to set up expedited takedown channels and trusted reporter status before infringing activity peaks.

• Create a triage policy with tiered enforcement: not every infringement warrants the same response. A clear triage policy should categorise cases by severity and commercial impact, reserving the most resource-intensive enforcement measures for high-risk infringements.

• Collect data on each enforcement action: recording the details of every enforcement action taken creates a valuable database for tracking repeat offenders, measuring the effectiveness of enforcement efforts and informing strategies for future tournament cycles.

• Educate consumers: raising public awareness of where to find official merchandise and licensed content helps to reduce consumer demand for counterfeit and infringing goods, complementing enforcement efforts with a preventative approach.

• Maintain post-tournament follow-up: enforcement should not end when the final whistle blows. Organisers should continue to monitor and act against ongoing infringements after the tournament, including unauthorised sales of residual merchandise and unlicensed use of event footage.

Major sports event organisers hold some of the most valuable IP portfolios in the world. The scale of modern infringement, from counterfeit merchandise and unauthorised broadcasting to ambush marketing, demands more than reactive enforcement efforts. As this article has outlined, a robust takedown strategy rests on early IP registration across target jurisdictions, a coordinated network of local counsel and a structured takedown process. Organisers should treat IP protection as a continuous investment rather than an event-by-event exercise in order to protect their commercial interests, official sponsor relationships and the integrity of the events themselves.