By Lucy Rana and Shilpi Saurav Sharan
Every 26 April, the world marks World Intellectual Property Day, the date on which the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) entered into force in 1970. Since 2000, WIPO has used this occasion to raise awareness of how IP and sports innovation, creativity, and brand identity shape daily life, reward creators, and fuel economies across the globe.
The theme for World IP Day for 2026 is “IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate.” It is an apt choice. Modern sport is no longer simply about athletic prowess: it is a technology-driven, brand-intensive, content-rich industry where sports IP law sits at the very centre of value creation, competition, and growth. From a patent for a smart helmet to a trademark for a team logo and copyright in a live broadcast, intellectual property underpins every dimension of the global sports economy.
$700B+Global sports market (annual revenue) |
40,000+Sports patents filed globally per year* |
$95BSports wearables market by 2028 |
₹15,000CrIndian sports industry valuation |
*Source: WIPO 2023 Statistics. Sports wearables market projection: industry estimates. Indian sports industry valuation: domestic industry data.
Why IP Matters in Sports
The global sports market generates over USD 700 billion in annual revenue, underpinned not just by athletic performance but by the intellectual assets that surround it. IP protection is the mechanism that allows innovators to recoup their R&D investment, allows athletes and leagues to monetise their identity and content, and allows consumers to trust the authenticity of the products they purchase.
Sports IP law in India and globally operates across five principal domains: patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright, and geographical indications. Each domain addresses a distinct dimension of value, yet together they form an integrated protection strategy for every stakeholder in the sports ecosystem from start-ups building sports wearables to multinational equipment manufacturers, athletes, leagues, and broadcasters.
Patents: Protecting the Science of Performance
Technology is the engine of modern sport. From the carbon-fibre sole of a marathon shoe to the impact-sensing polymer inside a rugby helmet, every material innovation that improves performance or safety is a candidate for patent protection. Sports technology patents represent one of the fastest-growing segments in global IP filings.
According to WIPO data (2023), over 40,000 sports-related patent applications are filed globally every year. The breakdown by category reflects where R&D investment in sports technology patents is concentrated:
| Category | Share of global sports patents |
| Footwear & Apparel | 32% |
| Performance Analytics | 24% |
| Safety & Injury Prevention | 19% |
| Wearables & Sensors | 15% |
| Sports Medicine Devices | 10% |
Source: WIPO, 2023
The IPC Classification System and Sport
Patent offices worldwide use the International Patent Classification (IPC), established under the Strasbourg Agreement in 1971 and operational since 1975, to organise patent documents. For sports technology, Section A (Human Necessities) is the primary section, with Class A63 specifically designated for “SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS.” IPC-based patent search is the starting point for any freedom-to-operate analysis or prior art search in the sports domain.
Key IPC codes relevant to sports technology patents include:
| IPC Code | Description & Sports Examples |
| A63B 41/00 | Ball games- Football, basketball, tennis balls & nets |
| A63B 49/00 | Rackets- Tennis, badminton, squash rackets |
| A63B 51/00 | Golf clubs, balls & accessories |
| A63B 59/00 | Sports balls- Cricket balls, rugby balls |
| A63B 61/00 | Equipment for special sports- Boxing gloves, wrestling suits |
| A63B 69/00 | Training apparatus- Gym machines, treadmills, simulators |
| A63C 5/00 | Skis / snowboards- Alpine skis, snowboard bindings |
| A63C 9/00 | Ski bindings- Safety release mechanisms |
The Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), jointly managed by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), extends the IPC and contains approximately 250,000 classification entries. It includes Section Y for cross-sectional technologies increasingly relevant as sports innovations converge with healthcare, AI, and materials science.
Selected Patent Examples
The breadth of sports patents is illustrated by recent grants across jurisdictions, spanning equipment design, wearable technology patents, and sports medicine devices:
- US Patent US12605605B1- Tennis Racket Dampener Device with Variable Dampening. The patent claims a tunable/adjustable vibration dampener that can be installed on a racket’s strings.
- US Patent Application US-20230097826-A1- Limb Exercise Device- This patent describes a smart limb rehabilitation and exercise monitoring device designed to facilitate and track limb exercises (e.g., straight leg lifts, knee bends, leg swings) for rehabilitation and prehabilitation purposes.
- Indian Patent No. 473375 (Applicant: Yonex Co. Ltd.)- A badminton racket with a novel frame design, filed under Application No. 202037048022..
- PCT Application PCT/US2019/019771 (USA)- A method for monitoring metabolism before and after exercise or injury using salivary microRNAs.
Trademarks: Protecting Identity, Brand, and Fan Trust
Sports trademarks are the most commercially visible form of IP in the industry. The Nike Swoosh, the Adidas three-stripe motif, the Olympic rings, and IPL franchise logos are all registered marks that carry enormous economic value and are backed by active enforcement programmes. Trademark registration in sports is not optional- it is a commercial necessity.
Trademark registration for sports goods and services follows the Nice Classification system. For sports brands and organisations, the key classes are:
| Nice Class | Covers (Sports Context) |
| Class 9 | Electronics & wearables — GPS sport watches, smart helmets, heart-rate monitors, biomechanical sensors |
| Class 18 | Bags & leather goods — Sports backpacks, gym bags, golf bags & club covers |
| Class 25 | Clothing & footwear — Jerseys, athletic footwear, compression apparel, swimwear, martial arts uniforms |
| Class 28 | Sporting articles — Balls, gymnastics equipment, skis, boxing gloves, diving equipment |
| Class 35 | Advertising & retail — Sports sponsorship, merchandise stores, sports marketing services |
| Class 41 | Sports events & training — Organising tournaments, coaching academies, sports broadcasting, awards |
Beyond product and service marks, trademark registration in India and globally protects athlete-personal brands. A professional athlete who registers their name, monogram, or signature phrase as a trademark gains control over its commercial use in endorsements, merchandise, and digital platforms.
Counterfeit sports merchandise in IndiaCounterfeit replica jerseys, unlicensed equipment, and unauthorised event branding cost sports leagues billions annually. Registered trademarks provide the legal foundation for enforcement action, including customs seizures and civil and criminal proceedings under the Trade Marks Act, 1999. |
Industrial Designs: Protecting the Look of Sport
A registered industrial design protects the visual features of a product- its shape, pattern, lines, colour, or texture as distinct from its technical function (the domain of patents). In sports equipment, where aesthetics and ergonomics are competitive differentiators, industrial design registration is a critical and often underused tool. Design registration for sports equipment is especially relevant for manufacturers seeking to build a multi-layered IP portfolio.
The Locarno Classification
Industrial designs are classified internationally under the Locarno Agreement of 1968, administered by WIPO across 32 classes and 219 subclasses. For the sports industry, two Locarno Classification classes are central:
- Class 21- Games, Toys & Sports Goods: Covers all designs related to recreational activities, physical sports, and competitive games. Subclass 21-02 specifically covers sporting goods and gymnastics equipment (excluding clothing): racket sports designs, winter sports gear, weight training equipment, aquatic sports apparatus, cycling equipment, and combat sports gear.
- Class 24- Medical & Laboratory Equipment: Overlaps with sports medicine in respect of physiotherapy apparatus, prosthetics, orthotics (subclass 24-02), and pharmaceutical dispensing devices (subclass 24-03) used in sports rehabilitation.
Examples of registrable sports equipment designs include: the unique frame shape and string pattern of a tennis racket; the aerodynamic shell and vent design of a bicycle helmet; the sole contour and upper geometry of a running shoe; and the grip and blade profile of a cricket bat.
Copyright: Protecting Content, Broadcasts, and Athletic Expression
In India, copyright in sports arises automatically at the moment of creation without the need for registration, under the Copyright Act, 1957. Sports copyright law covers multiple categories of creative work of substantial commercial value.
Broadcasting Rights
The most economically significant copyright asset in Indian sport is broadcast rights. The BCCI holds exclusive broadcast rights for the Indian Premier League, sublicensed to broadcasters including Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar. In the case of Star India Pvt. Ltd. v. Haneeth Ujwal[1] (Delhi High Court, 2013), the Hon’ble Court held that unauthorised streaming of IPL matches constitutes copyright infringement- a foundational ruling for online sports piracy/ digital piracy enforcement in India.
Globally, pirate streams cost sports leagues an estimated USD 28 billion annually. Even ten-second highlight clips posted without authorisation can attract copyright takedown action. The intersection of AI-generated content and sports broadcasting rights is an emerging frontier in sports copyright law, raising new questions about liability and licensing.
Photography, Choreography, and Athlete Rights
Sports photography attracts artistic copyright vested in the photographer. Agencies such as Getty Images and AP license match photography vigorously and pursue commercial users who reproduce images without authorisation. Athlete image rights in India are increasingly negotiated as standalone provisions in professional sports contracts.
Dance-based and choreographed sports, gymnastic floor routines, figure skating programmes may attract choreographic copyright. The intersection of copyright and celebration culture reached mainstream attention when NBA player Alfonso Ribeiro sued Epic Games over the use of the “Carlton Dance” in Fortnite- a case that settled but highlighted unresolved questions about the copyrightability of individual movement sequences.
Video Games, Music, and Literature
Sports video games such as EA Sports FIFA license player likenesses, stadium designs, and commentary as separately protected copyrighted works. Fantasy sports platforms in India must license player statistics data separately from the underlying match broadcasts. Sports anthems attract musical copyright; venues in India that play copyrighted music during events require licences from the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) and Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL).
Geographical Indications: Origin, Authenticity, and Heritage
Geographical Indications (GI) protect products whose specific quality, reputation, or characteristic is essentially attributable to their geographical origin. In the context of sports IP law in India, the most prominent example is the Kashmir Willow Cricket Bat.
Kashmir willow, grown in the Jhelum valley, has been used for cricket bat manufacturing for generations. GI registration under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 protects the authenticity of Kashmir-made bats, supports local artisan communities, and prevents misuse of the geographical name by producers outside the region. The Kashmir Willow Bat GI is an example of how heritage craftsmanship intersects with contemporary IP law to protect both economic and cultural interests.
Wearables and the Sports-Healthcare Patent Nexus
One of the most dynamic patent frontiers is the convergence of sports performance technology with clinical healthcare. The sports wearables patent landscape is expanding rapidly. This is evident in the fact that the global wearables market size was already approximately USD 220 billion in 2025, and is expected to more than double, to almost USD 500 billion, by 2030[2].
Technologies originally developed for elite athlete monitoring have migrated into clinical medicine and vice versa. This bidirectional innovation flow is reflected in the sports-healthcare IP nexus:
- ECG and cardiac monitoring wearables are licensed to both sports clubs and hospitals, bridging sports medicine and cardiology.
- GPS load-tracking with accelerometers- measuring sprint distance, fatigue, and injury risk via patented algorithms were sports applications first, now used in physical rehabilitation.
- Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology, originally developed for diabetic patients, is now used by elite endurance athletes to optimise fuelling strategies.
- Sweat biomarker patches, using patented electrochemical sensors, detect lactate, glucose, and hydration markers in real time.
- Impact-sensing helmets using inertial measurement units (IMUs) detect sub-concussive forces and trigger sideline alerts now adopted in clinical concussion management protocols.
The IIT Kanpur patent (No. 579018, granted January 2026) for a wearable electrochemical immunosensor for non-invasive biomarker detection in sweat is an exemplary Indian contribution to this space demonstrating that Indian academic institutions are generating world-class sports-healthcare IP and filing under the wearable technology patents category.
India’s IP Opportunity in Sports
India crossed 90,000 patent applications in 2023, ranking sixth globally up from seventh in 2016, driven by the National IPR Policy 2016 and the Startup India initiative. The sports patents India segment recorded 38% growth between FY 2022 and FY 2024 across sports and healthcare categories. Yet significant gaps remain that represent strategic IP opportunities.
Where the Opportunities Lie
- Cricket Technology: India is the world’s cricket capital, yet fewer than 50 cricket-specific patents are filed per year. Material science for bat willow composites, ball seam technology, and pitch surface innovation are virtually unprotected patent territories.
- Badminton and Racket Sports: Badminton court infrastructure in India is growing rapidly. Domestic manufacturers should file sports technology patents for string compositions, frame geometries, and grip materials before foreign brands consolidate their positions.
- Yoga and Wellness Equipment: India’s unique global export in sports and wellness. Mat materials, block compositions, strap designs, and posture-support tools are patentable innovations with minimal existing prior art under IPC class A63B.
- Running and Fitness Wearables: India’s running community expanded significantly in the post-COVID period. Start-ups developing IoT-enabled insoles, gait analysis tools, and performance tracking systems should file provisional patents under IPC A63B 69/00 to secure priority dates. This is a high-growth area for wearable technology patents in India.
- Indigenous Sports Equipment: Kabaddi suits, Kho-kho timing systems, Mallakhamba apparatus, and traditional archery equipment present unique IP opportunities with no existing prior art globally.
Building an IP Strategy in Sports: A Stakeholder Framework
Effective sports IP strategy requires a stakeholder-specific approach. The following framework covers four principal categories of actors in the sports ecosystem:
Inventors and Start-ups
- File a provisional patent application early to secure a priority date before public disclosure of any sports technology innovation.
- Conduct a Freedom to Operate (FTO) analysis before product launch to identify existing sports technology patents that may create risk.
- Consider a PCT application for cost-effective international protection of wearable technology patents.
- Protect software, algorithms, and AI models powering sports wearables and performance analytics platforms.
Sports Teams and Leagues
- Register all logos, mascots, and slogans across relevant Nice Classes (9, 25, 28, 35, 41) in every jurisdiction where merchandise is sold. Trademark registration for sports goods and events is the single most critical IP step for leagues.
- Negotiate comprehensive broadcast rights agreements that explicitly address OTT, social media, and AI-generated content.
- Establish anti-ambush marketing policies for major events to protect sponsor relationships and event IP.
- Protect official merchandise using authentication technology such as hologram labels or QR-based verification.
Equipment Manufacturers
- File sports technology patents for new material compositions, structural innovations, and manufacturing processes.
- Register unique visual designs as industrial designs under the Locarno Classification (primarily Class 21-02 for sports equipment designs).
- Use trade secret protection for proprietary manufacturing processes not susceptible to reverse engineering.
- Develop a licensing programme to generate revenue beyond direct product sales.
Athletes and Influencers
- Register personal name and signature as a trademark at an early stage of career development — a core element of athlete image rights management in India.
- Negotiate explicit image rights and right of publicity provisions in all professional and sponsorship contracts.
- Own copyright in original training content, tutorial videos, and instructional material created on social media platforms.
- Consider protecting signature training systems or methodologies through a combination of design rights and copyright.
Conclusion
Sport, at its highest level, is a collision of human capability and technological innovation. As the global sports market expands and the boundary between athletic performance and healthcare dissolves, sports IP law– patents, trademarks, designs, copyright, and geographical indications, provides the structural framework in which innovation is rewarded, brands are protected, content is monetised, and consumers are served.
For India, the opportunity is both timely and significant. A growing domestic sports market, a maturing patent ecosystem, world-class academic institutions generating sports-healthcare IP, and government schemes that reduce the cost of filing all converge to make this the right moment to build globally competitive IP portfolios in sport. Effective sports IP strategy in India, combining provisional patents, trademark registration, design filings, and copyright enforcement is not a cost centre. It is a competitive advantage.
[1] CS(OS) 2243/2014
[2] https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo-pub-1089-2-26-en-sports-technology.pdf