A Comparative analysis on Legal Protection of Sport Publicity or Image Right

Sport publicity or image right is a right by which athlete finds exclusive right in exploiting his publicity, image, personality and identity and can grant others the permission to use them and on the other hand, prevent the unauthorized use of this right by others. Having regarded the approaches of leading legal systems in such field, this article analyses the process of formation and recognition of this right for athletes and examines the reasons for its existence and its justifications and solutions against who infringe this legal right. In some legal systems, image right has been recognized as an independent right and commercial value attached to the identity of athletes, regarding some exceptions, is legally under protection. Registration of images as trademarks, exploiting the potentials of passing off actions and trade secrets system as well as dilutions actions, help athletes supporting their rights in such field. Although In Iranian law the existence of some obscure regulations beside some general rules such as the necessity of protection the rights relating to the personality and civil responsibilities may solve some problems but the results of this paper indicate the ambiguity and in efficiency of Iranian's existing regulations and legal literature regarding the effective protection of athletes' rights to their publicity and images, which necessitate employing the established rules in this domain in order to fill the gaps and correct the legal deficiencies.