The Intellectual Layer of Esports
The firmest statutory foundation of esports law is the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights. Every professional match runs on two layers of this law: the first is the video game itself — a computer program with the creative decisions embedded in it; the second is the live broadcast and the recording of the match — an audiovisual product created by the activity of the tournament organizer, the broadcaster or the player. Different subjects assert claims over these two layers, and it is precisely there that most esports disputes are born.
Under the law, the author or other holder of copyright has the exclusive right to use a work in any form — the right to carry out, permit or prohibit its use (Article 18). In esports this means that every form of commercial exploitation of a game — tournaments, broadcasts, recordings — rests on the consent of the person holding the rights to that game.
Public Transmission and Streaming
The exclusive right of use encompasses the public transmission of a work — first and repeated — as well as its transmission by wire or wireless communication in such a way that it is available to any person at a time and from a place chosen by that person (Article 18, part 2, subparagraph (v)). This is exactly the formulation on which streaming platforms stand: an online broadcast of a match is an exercise of the right of public transmission, and its legality depends on the existence of a licence or another basis.
The same article provides the rights of public display, public performance, reproduction, distribution, import, translation and adaptation, together with the right to remuneration: the author or other holder of the exclusive right is entitled to an author's royalty for any form of use of the work (part 3). For a tournament organizer this means that every monetization channel of the event must be covered by an appropriate right.