Appendix

Patent search strategy

All patent searches were conducted using the Patsnap database in January 2026. The datasets were reviewed manually to eliminate any irrelevant patents.

(((TAC:(FOOTBALL* OR SOCCER* OR HOCKEY* OR “ICE HOCKEY” OR “FIELD HOCKEY” OR TENNIS* OR BADMINTON* OR “TABLE TENNIS” OR “PING PONG” OR PICKLEBALL OR VOLLEYBALL* OR BASKETBALL* OR BASEBALL* OR RUGBY* OR “AMERICAN FOOTBALL” OR GOLF OR SWIMMING OR GYMNASTICS)) OR (TAC:(CRICKET* OR SQUASH* OR RACQUET* OR RACKET* OR PADEL OR SWIM* OR ATHLET* OR SKIING OR “SNOW SPORT*” OR “WINTER SPORT*” OR HANDBALL OR WRESTLING) AND (IPC:A63B* OR CPC:A63B*)) OR (TAC:((SPORT* OR ATHLETIC* OR CRICKET* OR SQUASH* OR RACQUET* OR RACKET* OR SWIM* OR ATHLET* OR SKIING OR HANDBALL OR WRESTLING) $W4 (EQUIPMENT* OR SYSTEM* OR DEVICE* OR APPARATUS* OR MEASUR* OR SENS* OR METHOD* OR SHOE OR SHOES OR FOOTWEAR OR BOOT OR CLOTHING OR CLOTHES OR APPAREL)))) AND F_PBD:[2016 TO 2025])

Parasports patents

(TAC:((WHEELCHAIR* OR PROSTHE* OR ORTHOTIC* OR EXOSKELETON* OR “RUNNING BLADE*” OR “ARTIFICIAL LIMB*”) AND (SPORT* OR RACE* OR ATHLET* OR ARCHERY OR ATHLETICS OR BADMINTON OR FOOTBALL OR BASKETBALL OR CANOE OR EQUESTRIAN OR JUDO OR POWERLIFTING OR SHOOTING OR SWIMMING OR RUGBY OR TENNIS OR SKIING OR BIATHLON OR SNOWBOARD OR CURLING)) OR TAC:((DISAB* OR IMPAIR* OR AMPUT* OR “LIMB LOSS” OR “LIMB DEFICIENCY” OR PARALYS* OR PARAPLEG* OR QUADRIPLEG* OR TETRAPLEG* OR ASSISTIV*) AND (ATHLET* OR SPORT* OR RACING* OR RACE* OR CYCLING* OR SWIM*)) OR (“SITTING VOLLEYBALL” OR GOALBALL* OR BOCCIA*)) AND (IPC:A63B* OR CPC:A63B* OR IPC:A63C* OR CPC:A63C* OR IPC:A61F2* OR CPC:A61F2* OR IPC:A61F5* OR CPC:A61F5* OR IPC:A61G5* OR CPC:A61G5* OR IPC:G01* OR CPC:G01* OR IPC:G09B* OR CPC:G09B*) AND F_PBD:[2016 TO 2025]

Esports patents

((TAC:(ESPORT* OR “E-SPORT*” OR “ELECTRONIC SPORT*” OR “COMPETITIVE GAMING” OR “ONLINE GAME” OR “MOBILE GAME” OR “COMPUTER GAME” OR “CONSOLE GAME”) OR (TAC:((GAME* OR GAMING) $SEN (MATCHMAKING* OR BROADCAST* OR STREAMING* OR LATENCY* OR CHAIR* OR KEYBOARD* OR MOUSE* OR CONTROLLER* OR JOYSTICK* OR HEADSET* OR HEADPHONE* OR EARPHONE*)))) AND (CLASS:A63F* OR CLASS:G06* OR CLASS:H04* OR CLASS:A47C* OR CLASS:H01H*)) AND F_PBD:[2016 TO 2025]

Trademark search strategy

Trademark searches were conducted using the WIPO Global Brand Database in January 2026.

“STATUS: REGISTERED” AND “GOODS AND SERVICES: CONTAINS THE WORD (SPORTS OR SOCCER OR FOOTBALL OR SWIMMING OR TENNIS OR BADMINTON OR GOLF OR PADEL OR PICKLEBALL OR ATHLETE OR RUGBY OR CRICKET OR SKIING OR SNOWBOARDING OR HOCKEY OR “PING PONG” OR VOLLEYBALL OR BASKETBALL OR HANDBALL OR BASEBALL OR SQUASH OR WRESTLING OR RUNNING OR SNOWSPORTS OR SPORTING OR ATHLETICS OR ATHLETIC)”

Designs search strategy

Design searches were conducted using the Patsnap database in January 2026.

LOC:(02-01-100069 OR 02-04-100167 OR 02-99-100284 OR 06-11-100741 OR 21-02 OR 32-02-105303 OR 02-02-105164) AND PBD:[20160101 TO 20251231]

Methodological considerations and limitations

IP analysis in the field of sports technologies presents structural challenges that differ from those encountered in more clearly delineated technical or product domains. International IP classification systems – whether the International Patent Classification (IPC) and Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) for patents, the Nice Classification for trademarks, or the Locarno Classification for designs – are organized primarily by technical function, goods and services categories, or product type. They are not systematically structured around individual sporting disciplines. As a result, there are no dedicated and exhaustive classification categories for most specific sports.

Many enabling technologies and products – such as motion-tracking systems, ball trajectory analysis, textile materials, wearable sensors, footwear construction or protective equipment – are inherently cross-disciplinary and may apply across multiple sports. A single invention, brand specification or design registration may reference several sporting contexts simultaneously. Conversely, relevant IP filings may be drafted in general technical or commercial terms without explicit reference to sport, even where the ultimate market application is sporting.

These structural features introduce complexity into the identification of sports-related IP. Classification codes alone cannot fully isolate sport-specific activity. Accordingly, the search methodology combined classification-based filtering with targeted keyword strategies across patent, trademark and design datasets. Keyword-based searching, while necessary, does introduce some limitations – the IP rights may reference multiple sports even where the primary commercial focus is one discipline; terminology may vary across jurisdictions (for example, “football” and “American football”), creating ambiguity; applicants frequently draft broad technical descriptions or goods and services specifications to maximize protection, which can expand the apparent scope of relevance; and, conversely, relevant filings may not explicitly reference sport, leading to potential under-capture. To mitigate these effects, iterative query refinement, manual validation and structured sampling were undertaken across datasets. Sampling results indicate that the substantial majority of retrieved records are substantively relevant to sports-related activity. Nevertheless, the dataset should be understood as indicative rather than exhaustive.

Accordingly, the analysis presented in this publication should be interpreted as follows:

Absolute IP filing counts should not be interpreted as precise measures of total innovation or branding activity in sport.
Small numerical differences between sports, jurisdictions or years should be treated with caution.
Broader directional trends over time, geographic distributions ⁽¹⁾For regional analysis within this report, “North America” should be interpreted as comprising Canada, Mexico and the United States of America. and relative patterns across technology or product clusters are considered more robust than exact totals.

Despite these inherent structural constraints, the resulting dataset is sufficiently consistent and internally coherent to support meaningful conclusions regarding the scale, evolution and distribution of sports-related innovation and brand activity globally.

Taxonomy of sports categories

American football and rugby
American football and rugby are physical, territory-based team sports centered on advancing an oval ball toward a scoring zone. American football and rugby are grouped together because patent filings frequently address shared equipment, protective gear and ball technologies that apply across both codes, making separation analytically artificial.

Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport in which teams alternate between hitting and fielding to score runs by circling a diamond-shaped field. It encompasses professional and amateur leagues, as well as closely-related formats such as softball.

Basketball
Basketball is a fast-paced team sport focused on scoring by shooting a ball through an elevated hoop. It encompasses traditional five-on-five indoor play, as well as variations such as three-on-three and street basketball.

Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams that alternate batting and fielding on an oval field.

Football (soccer)
Football (soccer) features two teams competing to score by moving the ball into the opponent’s goal primarily using their feet. The category includes outdoor eleven-a-side matches, small-sided formats like futsal and five-a-side, and beach soccer.

Golf
Golf centers on precision-based play in which individuals or small groups aim to complete a course in the fewest strokes. It includes traditional outdoor golf on 18- or 9-hole courses, as well as formats such as match play and stroke play. The category also covers driving ranges, miniature golf and technology-assisted variants like simulator golf.

Gym and fitness
Gym and fitness focuses on physical conditioning, strength building and overall health. This category covers weight training, functional fitness, aerobics, group exercises and high-intensity interval training as well as all gymnastic types combining artistic (apparatus and floor), rhythmic (dance and props) and trampoline events.

Hockey
Hockey refers to stick-and-ball (or puck) team sports played on various surfaces. Major forms include field hockey on turf and ice hockey played on rinks, along with inline and street hockey variations. Ice hockey and field hockey are grouped together because of substantial overlap in stick, puck or ball control and protective equipment technologies, and because the keyword “hockey” in patent data is often indistinguishable between ice and field contexts.

Racket sports
Racket sports involve striking a ball or shuttlecock with a handheld racket across a net or against a wall. This category includes tennis, badminton, padel, pickleball, squash and table tennis, spanning both singles and doubles play. Racket sports have been grouped together because core racket, stringing, impact-surface and court-interaction technologies are commonly patented across multiple racket disciplines rather than for a single sport only.

Swimming
Swimming includes pool racing (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly), water polo (a tactical team sport), and artistic swimming (choreographed routines). It also features diving from boards and open-water marathons in lakes or oceans.

Volleyball
Volleyball involves teams rallying a ball over a net with the aim of grounding it on the opponent’s side. The category includes indoor volleyball, beach volleyball played on sand and emerging formats such as snow volleyball.

Winter sports
Winter sports take place primarily on snow or ice and often require specialized equipment. They include alpine and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, figure skating, curling and biathlon.

Other sports
The “Other” category captures sports that fall outside the major global disciplines yet maintain strong regional or emerging appeal. These may include combat sports, cycling, athletics, surfing, skateboarding, climbing, and hybrid or newly professionalized activities.