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Sports Marketing and Media Law (LAWS70275)

Graduate coursework level 7Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)

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Overview

Availability(Quotas apply)
September
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Sponsorship announcements and media rights deals in sport can attract publicity like gold medals. The ingenuity of an ambush marketer may rival the game plan for an upset victory. This subject surveys the legal underpinnings of modern sports marketing and the role of the media, especially the new media, from the perspectives of key stakeholders: sports bodies, athletes, sponsors, the media and venue owners. Conflict between rights holders and those who claim commercial free speech at the fringe of official rights is analysed. This subject covers how specific new laws and increasingly intricate contractual allocation of rights aim to contain the ambusher. It will be of interest to lawyers, sports, marketing and media executives, and player agents. One lecturer is a barrister who has studied and written in the area, and the other is a lawyer who has served as in-house counsel for a public broadcaster for many years.

This subject considers the legal aspects of sports marketing and associated media in Australia. Attention is paid to the different legal needs of key stakeholders in sport. It involves assessing the impact on the legal environment of sports marketing and media rights in an era of increased commercialism and professionalism in sport, and of significant change in the technology of communication and marketing.

Principal topics include:

  • The commercial environment of sports marketing
  • Intellectual property and related legal principles as they apply to sports marketing: passing-off, copyright, designs, misleading or deceptive conduct, trade marks, trade names and internet domain names
  • Laws promoting competition as they apply to sports marketing and the sale of media rights: restraint of trade at common law and restrictive trade practices under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)
  • Olympic marketing arrangements and protection of Olympic insignia
  • Athlete marketing rights, including personality rights, misleading or deceptive conduct and defamation
  • Event, facility and organisation marketing, including rights to a spectacle
  • Television and electronic media, including broadcast agreements, anti-siphoning laws, virtual advertising and regulation of alcoholic beverage advertising
  • Regulation of tobacco advertising
  • Principles of sponsorship agreements
  • Ticketing.

Intended learning outcomes

A student who has successfully completed this subject will:



  • Have an advanced and integrated understanding of the legal principles of marketing sport and related media rights in Australia, including recent developments in this field of law and practice
  • Be able to critically examine, analyse, interpret and assess the effectiveness of these legal principles
  • Be an engaged participant in debate regarding emerging and contemporary issues in the field, such as unauthorised broadcast of sports events, controls over the use of social media by athletes, and laws concerning anti-siphoning of broadcasts of sports events
  • Have a sophisticated appreciation of the factors and processes driving parliamentary and sporting body revision of the legal and regulatory framework
  • Have an advanced understanding of situations in which sports marketing and media legal issues may arise
  • Have an understanding of sports marketing and media legal issues in an international context
  • Have the cognitive and technical skills to generate critical and creative ideas relating to sports marketing and media law issues in sport, and to critically evaluate existing legal and regulatory theories, principles and concepts with creativity and autonomy
  • Have the cognitive and technical skills to independently examine, research and analyse existing and emerging legal issues relating to marketing and media issues in sport
  • Have the communication skills to clearly articulate and convey complex information regarding marketing and media law issues in sport to relevant specialist and non-specialist audiences
  • Be able to demonstrate autonomy, expert judgment and responsibility as a practitioner and learner in the field of marketing and media law issues in sport.

Last updated: 3 November 2022

Eligibility and requirements

Prerequisites

Melbourne Law Masters Students: None

JD Students: Successful completion of all the below subjects:

Code Name Teaching period Credit Points
LAWS50026 Obligations
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
LAWS50057 Copyright and Patents
Not available in 2018
 12.5

Corequisites

None

Non-allowed subjects

None

Recommended background knowledge

Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are offered in the discipline of law at an advanced graduate level. While every effort will be made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, concessions will not be made in the general level of instruction or assessment. Most subjects assume the knowledge usually acquired in a degree in law (LLB, JD or equivalent). Applicants should note that admission to some subjects in the Melbourne Law Masters will be dependent upon the individual applicant’s educational background and professional experience.

Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)

The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.

Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home

Last updated: 3 November 2022

Assessment

Additional details

  • Class participation (10%)
  • Hypothetical group exercise, including 10 min presentation (10%)
  • Research paper (8,000 words) (80%) (5 December) on a topic approved by the subject coordinator

A minimum of 75% attendance is a hurdle requirement.

Last updated: 3 November 2022

Quotas apply to this subject

Dates & times

  • September
    Principal coordinatorPaul Czarnota
    Mode of deliveryOn Campus (Parkville)
    Contact hours24-34 hours
    Total time commitment150 hours
    Pre teaching start date13 August 2018
    Pre teaching requirementsThe pre-teaching period commences four weeks before the subject commencement date. From this time, students are expected to access and review the Reading Guide that will be available from the LMS subject page and the subject materials provided by the subject coordinator, which will be available from Melbourne Law School. Refer to the Reading Guide for confirmation of which resources need to be read and what other preparation is required before the teaching period commences.
    Teaching period10 September 2018 to 14 September 2018
    Last self-enrol date 3 August 2018
    Census date10 September 2018
    Last date to withdraw without fail26 October 2018
    Assessment period ends 5 December 2018

    September contact information

    Lecturers

    Mr Paul Czarnota (Coordinator)
    Ms Sally McCausland

    Email: law-masters@unimelb.edu.au
    Phone: +61 3 8344 6190
    Website: law.unimelb.edu.au

Additional delivery details

This subject has a quota of 30 students.

Enrolment is on a first come, first served basis. Waitlists are maintained for subjects that are fully subscribed.

Students should note priority of places in subjects will be given as follows:

  • To currently enrolled Graduate Diploma and Masters students with a satisfactory record in their degree
  • To other students enrolling on a single subject basis, eg Community Access Program (CAP) students, cross-institutional study and cross-faculty study.

Please refer to the Melbourne Law Masters website for further information about the management of subject quotas and waitlists.

Last updated: 3 November 2022

Further information

Last updated: 3 November 2022