Contemporary Issues in E-sports Law: ADR, Development and Regulation and the E-Sports Bill

Man is a social animal. Sports has been an ancient part of this animal society. In today’s day and age, a new genre of sport is emerging and establishing itself. E-sports. This new branch of sports has taken over the world by surprise. The emergence and popularity have been discussed further in the research. In E-sports, like every other technological development, it is very difficult to understand its scope completely and regulate it. In India, there is still no specific law that governs and regulates E-sports. This research aims to understand and shed light upon issues that surround E-sports in its entirety. With E-sports gaining such a weightage that it might make its debut in the Olympics, there comes a need for its regulation and development just like every other sport. There are several key issues to be understood- Firstly, the IPR and its issues surrounding the game; player’s image rights, the issue ownership of broadcasting and publishing of E-sports. These issues are discussed vaguely among other sports but with E-sports it becomes an issue of higher gravity. Secondly, issues such as cheating, match-fixing, doping and gambling are wide spread and no global structure has yet been developed. Thirdly, like other sports, the career of E-sports players is also short lived and it is essential nature that disputes are resolved in an efficacious manner so as to not affect the players, teams and tournaments. For this the role of arbitration in sports will be discussed along with emphasis on Court of Arbitration for Sport. With the rising level of E-sports rivaling that of other traditional sports, it is on the road to becoming a multi-billion-dollar business as well and along with all the implications of such magnitude, there is a lot for Law and Legislation to take care of.