Sports law
The fully outsourced legal and brand protection service provided by MinterEllison for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) is unique. It is a landmark example of the innovative application of sports law solutions to the delivery of a major international sporting event.
Sponsorship
Our embedded team drafted and negotiated a large portfolio of sponsorship agreements. Most lawyers would not work on this many sponsorship agreements in their entire career, let alone two years.
Brand protection
Numerous domestic and international trademark applications and other images and references are protected under legislation for the Games. Each month, our team monitor numerous online platforms including social media channels to ensure no one is using these images or trademarks unlawfully. They also monitor consumer sale websites for ticket scalping and counterfeit goods. During the Games, they will have a team deployed at venues monitoring for any activity on the ground, including ambush marketing.
Broadcasting
The team has negotiated several agreements with exclusive broadcasting rights holders in Australia and overseas. They also negotiated the terms for the host broadcast services, a basic feed of Games coverage to which all country rights holders are granted access. This is a non-biased coverage of the Games covering all sports and athletes from which each individual rights holder selects their relevant audience content.
Ticketing
Our work in the ticketing space included negotiating a Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018) ticketing agent agreement, advising on ticketing terms and conditions, venue entry conditions and the mechanics of the ticketing program. GC2018 will showcase the largest competition schedule in Commonwealth Games history with tickets available for 278 sessions across 11 days of competition.
Music licensing
More than 1,000 music and artistic works will be required for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the broader GC2018 program. The embedded team have streamlined the licensing process to enable GOLDOC to obtain the requisite licenses to use these works. They have also negotiated directly with many artists and other rights holders in relation to synchronisation rights and performance agreements.
Ceremony production
Negotiating the service provider for the Opening and Closing Ceremony productions was a significant procurement project for the team. The productions involve the engagement of hundreds of performers for the Ceremonies and Festival 2018 program as well as negotiating with multiple layers of rights holders to obtain rights to use different artistic works.
Venue use
Our team have provided legal advice for the administration of 18 venues for GC2018 including competition and training venues, the Commonwealth Games Village and the International Broadcast Centre.
Overlay construction
The overlay construction project was the team's largest procurement work stream within GOLDOC and involved the procurement of all temporary infrastructure including seating, lights, cabins and tents etc.
