Registering a New Sport
This is a part of the guide for creating a new sport. Protecting your intellectual rights for your invented sport is very important. The regulations about copyright differ greatly around the world, so you will need to do further research to find out if the information below is accurate for your situation. I am not a lawyer, and the information below is aimed at giving you ideas of what to consider and to ask the right questions. If you were serious about this, it would be wise to seek professional assistance such as with a patent or copyright attorney.
If you just have an idea for a sport, it is not possible to patent an idea, nor can you copyright or trademark the idea. It has to be more than just an idea. If you have reached this point, you probably have more than an idea, maybe a description, some rules, a name, and it may be possible to protect these in some way.
Research
You need to do research to determine if anyone has ever played this game, so as to determine whether it is truly a new and unique idea. First you need to identify which aspects of your sport is actually new (and this may identify which parts you may be infringing someone else's copyright!). Once you have decided that your sport is unique, there are a number of ways which you can protect your intellectual property for the sport.
Copyright
The rules of the new sport can be protected by copyright. Copyright is an automatic right of the original author or authors. You need to publish the details on the sport, either online (on a website - such as this one!, video etc) and on paper. Copyright will prevent the rules of the sport being republished or disseminated without your (the copyright owner) permission. The copyright can also be assigned to a third party such as the ‘governing body’ of the new sport. Players’ uniforms, logos, the name of the sport, the name of a competition or the name of the governing body, etc. may be protected by a registered trademark or design.
Patents
Any equipment used in the new sport may be patentable, if that equipment required inventive ingenuity to adapt, modify or develop in order to be used for the new sport. The methods of using the adapted equipment may also be protected by patents. You may be able to patent the method of play if it is unique.
Related Pages
- Complete guide to creating a new sport
- Your Sport is Yours: Intellectual Property of New Sports Submissions
- All About Sports Law
- Submitting a new sport
- Some new sport ideas
- About New Sports
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