Sports is seeing consistent innovation, and the numbers bear it out. The global sports technology market is expected to more than quadruple over the next few years, growing from around USD 30 billion today to nearly USD 140 billion by the early 2030s. On the side of spectators and active participants, revenues are rising as well, driven by streaming, merchandising, the fitness movement, and the growth of women's and adaptive sports, with each Paralympics edition reaching a record number of viewers.
Behind every broadcast, athlete, and piece of training gear sit IP rights: trademarks, designs, patents, copyright, and, increasingly, rights of personality. Artificial intelligence (AI) is further changing the game. Today, AI can replicate an athlete's likeness, voice, and signature moves without their involvement - a challenge we explore in our piece on pose marks and synthetic media.
Athlete and creator compensation is another central theme. We examine how figure skaters and their federations manage music licensing through platforms such as ClicknClear here. Elsewhere, we consider how parasport patents can create benefits beyond the Games and weigh how much innovation and design protection there is in dumbbells.
For athletes, innovators, and organizers alike, a basic IP strategy can protect your work and open new opportunities for recognition and fair compensation.
There is more to come – the dynamics between sports and IP will remain in focus this summer. Sign up for updates.
Happy reading .
Other resources on Sports and IP across WIPO
World IP Day page and the Youth Video Competition
IP Analytics on Sports and Technology
