Image Rights Solutions: Sports and entertainment
Our Sports and Entertainment team serve talent and corporates active in the international music, sports, fashion and media industry.
We have been involved in the sports and entertainment industry for nearly two decades, building up a wealth of expertise. Today our clients include some of the world’s top sport persons, composers, performing artists and personalities such as classical musicians, pop artists and DJ’s, but we also assist promising young talent.
In each case, our team focuses on convenience and tax efficiency, crafting solutions to clients’ complex income situations. We are experts in optimising the exploitation of entertainment assets including image rights, copyright and publishing rights. As one of the main players in this field, we offer the best facilities for setting up and managing international licensing structures. We also arrange for collection and distribution of performance, royalty and sponsor income, leaving our artists free to get on with their careers.
The increasingly global nature of entertainment, sport and media requires a truly international perspective. With IP experts in various strategic locations our Sports & Entertainment team provides the skills, contacts and specialised services to capitalise on the commercial potential of a song, name or image.
As a sports person or sports club manager, inevitably you will have to deal with tax matters. On top of that, many sportsmen are also active outside their own country. Can you benefi t from a more favourable
schedule for your foreign activities? How can you receive expenses and bonuses in a tax-friendly manner? The end of a sports career raises questions too. How can you prepare for life after sports? How should you structure the capital raised? The rights of a sports person in respect of the reproduction and use of their image is well known. But how is the income from this and other revenues (e.g., product endorsements) treated in terms of tax and the law? Based on years of practical experience, Fidelitas
can explain all the relevant tax implications relating to specifi c personal situations and recommend an individual structure.
Fidelitas’s team of professionals is committed to discretion and excellence. We assist sports clubs (particularly football clubs), service and management companies, as well as event entrepreneurs and other organizations involved in the world of sport. We also advise many players and sportsmen about
tax optimization and estate planning.
There is a high demand from Europe for Latin American and African soccer players. Often, they get offered a contract to work outside their country of origin for a European soccer club.
Normally, the main aspects of the players’ contracts connected to a move from, for example, Latin America to Europe are:
a) Transfer agreement between present club and new club;
b) Fixed salary contract between new club and player; or
c) Image rights contract between new club and player (or third party).
