RGNUL Student Research Review in association with IKIGAI LAW invites submissions for the RSRR Blog Series on the theme “Regulating E-Sports: Paving the Road Ahead”.
E-Sports are increasingly growing in terms of popularity as well as a lucrative sports-
entertainment. Oxford Dictionary defines ‘e-sports’ as “a multiplayer video game played competitively for spectators, typically by professional gamers.” The booming rise of industry, at Indian as well as global platform, has witnessed a spectacular evolution. Infrastructure to hold competitions at national and international level, as well as coming into existence of rule-making bodies is paving the way further for e-sports. Due to the advent of e-sports at worldwide level, the youthful obsession of multiplayer gaming has now become a unique professional endeavour.
Potential Themes for Blog Posts include:
1. Legal Recognition of E-Sports as a Sport and medal event at international events;
2. Need for Regulation of E-Sports (Eg: Statutory, Self-Regulatory etc.);
3. Determining the distinction between E-Sports and Gambling;
4. E-Sports and Intellectual Property Protections (Issues related to thin line difference between adaptation and copyright infringement, competition law principles vis-à-vis game publisher’s IP rights, etc.) ; 5. Regulation of Online Streaming and Broadcasting Rights For E-Sports;
6. The menace of betting, match-fixing and cheating over E-Sports;
7. Skill building and learning through engagement in E-Sports;
8. Understanding ‘E-Doping’ and need for fair competition in E-Sports;
9. Intermediary liability vis- à-vis E-Sports hosted on gaming platforms;
10. Legal implications of Foreign Court’s decisions on E-Sports in India: Critical Analysis;
11. Professional E-Sport athletes: Need for recognition of ‘professional athletes’ in E-Sports, immigration classification and legal protection;
12. E-Sports and monetization of data: The privacy rights of players, data localization, biometric data, leasing out data, unregulated usage of such data and ownership of metadata;
13. E-Sports and Contract Management and Enforceability (Eg: Employment, Sponsorship etc);
14. E-Sports and Free Speech: Creative freedom in developing and usage of E-Sports;
15. Taxation issues in operation of E-Sports;
16. Competition law in E-Sports vis- à-vis Right to Trade.
Submissions are due June 30, 2019.
The full call and submission instructions are available here.
