Who owns an athlete's image rights in a sponsorship campaign?

An athlete's image and identity can possess significant commercial value, but the right to use those attributes in a sponsorship campaign should not be assumed merely because the athlete has signed a playing contract with a club, federation or organiser. Rights concerning the athlete's name, photograph, likeness, voice, signature, performance footage and public endorsement may arise through several legal and contractual arrangements. Their ownership and permitted exploitation must be analysed separately.

Pakistani law does not provide one simple standalone statutory registration system for every aspect of an athlete's personality. Relevant rights may arise from contractual consent, copyright in photographs or audiovisual works, registered trademarks, passing off, privacy principles and other legal protections according to the facts. An effective sponsorship agreement should therefore identify exactly what is licensed and by whom, for what commercial purpose and for how long.

Identify the rights the sponsor wishes to use

A company may want to put an athlete's photograph on packaging, use a recorded endorsement on social media, associate a product with the athlete's reputation or create a merchandise line bearing the athlete's name. These uses involve different creative materials and legal interests.

The agreement should describe whether the licence covers the athlete's name, image, likeness, voice, signature, biography, social-media handles, uniform, achievements, video content or other identifiers. The scope should distinguish promotional use from permanent product branding, and paid advertisements from purely editorial coverage.

Broad language allowing the sponsor to use 'all image rights worldwide in perpetuity' may exceed the commercial bargain and create conflicts with other endorsements. A clear usage schedule is usually more practical.

Consent and contractual personality interests

The athlete should give explicit, informed permission for commercial association with the specified products or services. This is particularly important where the sponsorship might imply personal experience with a product, professional recommendation or participation in a campaign.

The contract should establish whether the athlete may review the context of advertisements and whether approval can be withheld for defined reputational concerns. The sponsor needs enough certainty to produce and distribute lawful marketing material, while the athlete should not be deprived of meaningful control over misleading association.

Consent may be limited by territory, channel, brand category or period. A licence to use a photograph in one campaign should not automatically be interpreted as consent to sell the athlete's identity to unrelated advertisers.

Ownership of the underlying photograph or video

The athlete's consent to commercial use of a likeness does not necessarily transfer the copyright in a photograph captured by a photographer, agency or broadcaster. The sponsor may need a separate copyright licence or assignment from the person or entity holding those rights.

Check photographer engagement terms, production agency contracts, location permissions and whether archived match footage belongs to a broadcaster, federation or league. Sports footage can be subject to separate broadcast and event-media rights.

A company should not assume that an image available on social media is free to reproduce commercially. The athlete may have posted it without owning the right to license it to a third party.

Club, league and federation arrangements

A professional athlete's playing contract may require use of club uniforms, participation in club sponsor events or compliance with league commercial rules. Such arrangements can limit personal endorsement rights, especially for products competing with team sponsors.

Review the sporting contract and relevant competition rules before promising exclusive association with a competing brand. A personal sponsor may be able to use the athlete in neutral clothing but not necessarily in official team colours or with protected competition emblems.

A federation's rights concerning group images, match-day appearances or national-team uniforms should not be assumed to extend to the athlete's independent personal advertising without examination of the governing agreement.

Exclusivity should be commercially proportionate

A sponsorship contract may grant category exclusivity, preventing the athlete from endorsing another product in the same market. Define the prohibited category carefully. Exclusivity for a particular sports drink is different from banning every beverage, food supplement or health-related product.

The athlete should understand whether restrictions apply to existing sponsorships, passive investments, ordinary public appearances and posts unrelated to advertising. The sponsor should verify conflicts before signing, not only after the campaign is launched.

Overly broad restraints may generate enforceability questions under Pakistani contract law. Restrictions should be designed around a legitimate commercial purpose and the specific contracted campaign.

Deliverables and performance obligations

The agreement should identify the number and format of posts, filming days, appearances, interviews, product placements and approved campaign materials. Include publication dates, content quality requirements, approval deadlines and responsibilities for production costs.

An athlete's obligation to post content is different from a guarantee of audience engagement or sales. A sponsor should not describe an uncertain marketing result as an absolute performance promise unless the contract provides a realistic measurement method.

Define what happens when the athlete is injured, unavailable for an event or prevented from appearing by a team or federation. Rescheduling and proportionate fee adjustments may be more useful than immediate termination.

Endorsement accuracy and advertising standards

Commercial messages should not imply that an athlete personally uses or recommends a product where the assertion is untrue. The parties should identify who is responsible for product claims, required disclosures and compliance with applicable advertising and consumer-protection standards.

The sponsor should supply substantiation for factual claims concerning nutrition, performance or medical outcomes. An athlete's fame does not validate unsupported scientific or regulatory statements.

Where an endorsement is paid, consider how the commercial relationship should be disclosed in the relevant communication channel under applicable standards. The contract should allocate responsibility for approving final copy and handling regulatory complaints.

Moral conduct and reputational provisions

Sponsorships commonly contain morality or reputation clauses allowing a response to serious misconduct, sporting sanctions or events undermining the association. These provisions should not be so vague that either party can terminate merely because a public controversy is inconvenient.

Define relevant events, notice, investigation, temporary suspension, opportunity to respond and possible remedies. A mere allegation should not always be treated as established wrongdoing, while a binding doping sanction or criminal conviction may carry different commercial consequences.

The sponsor should accept corresponding obligations not to use the athlete in misleading, unlawful or reputationally damaging campaigns. Risk allocation should work in both directions.

Term, renewal and post-expiry usage

The contract should distinguish the sponsorship period from the time during which already manufactured packaging or previously published advertisements may remain in circulation. An immediate global removal obligation can be unrealistic where products are in retail stock.

Specify whether the sponsor may continue using archived campaign material, for what duration and in what contexts. New advertisements after expiry should be distinguished from passive historical posts.

If an athlete changes clubs or retires, review whether the brand association continues and whether existing creative material must be altered. The answer should follow agreed rights rather than assumption.

Compensation and tax arrangements

The sponsorship consideration may include fixed fees, appearance payments, royalties, products and performance-related amounts. Identify invoicing, applicable withholding, expenses, payment schedule and treatment of cancellations.

A royalty based on merchandise sales requires a clear definition of net sales, deductions, reporting and audit rights. The athlete should not have to accept a calculation that the sponsor cannot verify.

The parties should obtain appropriate tax advice for Pakistani or cross-border arrangements, including international events or foreign image-rights entities. The legal person receiving money must correspond to the contract and the underlying rights.

Enforcement against unauthorised campaigns

If a brand uses an athlete's identity without permission, the appropriate claim depends on the nature of the use, misrepresentation, copyrighted material, any registered mark and the harm caused. Preserve original advertisements, photographs, campaign dates, invoices and evidence of commercial association.

A notice should identify the actual right infringed. An allegation that every unauthorised mention of an athlete is automatically illegal is too broad; journalism, reporting and other contexts can differ from commercial endorsement.

Available remedies may include contractual relief, injunctions or other civil relief according to the rights and facts. The claim should distinguish the athlete's own interests from those of the photographer, broadcaster or sporting body.

A practical sponsorship example

Suppose a cricketer signs a personal endorsement for a shoe manufacturer. The sponsor wants to use photographs in national-team uniform, publish match clips and place the player's name on a permanent product range. The contract gives general permission to use the athlete's image for one advertising season.

This language may not resolve rights in the national team's marks, footage owned by a broadcaster or extended merchandise use. The sponsor should obtain relevant third-party permissions and negotiate an express commercial licence defining channels, products, period and approvals.

The athlete should also disclose existing footwear or sportswear restrictions under club, team or federation arrangements. The contractual negotiation should occur before expensive production begins.

Opinion and recommended agreement

The athlete ordinarily controls the decision whether to enter a personal commercial endorsement agreement, subject to relevant contracts and law. However, the athlete does not necessarily own the copyright in every photograph, video or broadcast portraying them, and sporting organisations may have separate commercial rights.

An effective agreement should precisely identify personal identifiers licensed, third-party content permissions, exclusivity, deliverables, territory, duration, payment, approvals, moral clauses, termination and post-expiry use. The sponsor should confirm the chain of rights before dissemination.

Principal authorities for verification: Contract Act, 1872; Copyright Ordinance, 1962; Trade Marks Ordinance, 2001 where marks are relevant; applicable privacy and misrepresentation principles; the athlete's playing and endorsement agreements; and league, federation and broadcaster commercial-rights arrangements.