Do Unauthorised E-Sports Broadcasts Infringe EU Copyright Law?

E-Sports is the competitive playing of videogames in league based tournaments. The tournaments are broadcast over the internet to millions of ardent fans. In 2025, the global esports industry is estimated to have an annual viewership of 772.4 million and annual revenues totalling $4.9 billion.
Videogames, as opposed to normal sports games, are copyright protected works. Therefore, the broadcast of E-Sports inherently includes dealing with copyright protected works. Presently, most major E-Sports tournaments are organised either by the videogame publisher themselves or by third parties who obtain authorisation form the publisher. However, smaller tournaments are often organised without publishers’ knowledge or consent. Qualitative interviews, I undertook for my DPhil, suggest that many top E-Sports broadcast producers are worried that their careers could be immediately terminated if videogame companies decide to pull the plug on the industry.
This presentation seeks to address how harmonised EU copyright law deals with that worry. I consider whether unauthorised E-Sports broadcasts violate EU copyright laws. I look at violations of reproduction right and communication to public right; and consider the application of temporary copying, pastiche, and quotation exceptions.
My conclusions are as follows. The broadcasts violate the videogame’s reproduction right. The broadcasts do not violate the videogame’s communication to public right. Most of the temporary copies produced as part of the technical process in playing and viewing E-Sports broadcasts are exempt under Article 5(1). However, archived copies retained by tournament hosts for making available to the public are not exempt under Article 5(1). It is within the discretion allotted to member states for them to choose whether to exempt or penalise E-Sports broadcasts under the quotation exception in Article 5(3)(d). We do not have enough case law yet from the CJEU to see whether E-Sports broadcasts can fall under the pastiche exception in Article 5(3)(k).Title: The Protection of AI Prompts in EU Copyright Law and its Implications for the Public Domain.