July 2008
West Indian Cricket Team Sign Their Image Rights Away
The West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) has taken hold of the image and intellectual property rights of 75 of its cricket players with a contract between the players and the association.
The rights acquired include : the player’s name, nickname, assumed name, image and likeness of the player, portrait, picture, photograph, caricature, voice, signature, signifier, representation or reproduction of these in any form whatsoever, logo or other identification, statements, quotations and biographical or other detail, and all associated fame, reputation and goodwill associated with him together with any registered or unregistered trademarks associated therewith or other intellectual property rights, rights or publicity and/ or personality and other rights of whatever nature as may exist in addition to the same in any jurisdiction from time to time.
The WIPA and its members welcome this change as WIPA looks to take advantage of the full profit and commercial potential for the use of the players’ IP and image rights and to monitor the usage of these rights globally to make sure that no unauthorised utilisations occur.
This assignment with the 75 players involved; is following the emerging trend of similar arrangements between cricket players and their associations including similar groups in South Africa and England.
Briffa comment:
Image Rights are valuable and more so where they are managed at a team level. What the individual player seeks to gain however as part of the deal is less clear. Hopefully they will be entitled to sure payment from the WIPA where use of their rights is made.
For further information on image rights contact info@briffa.com.