Paul O'Dowd

Paul O'Dowd is a Partner in the Sport Group.

Paul advises on a range of legal issues connected with sport and the media, including the commercial exploitation of broadcast rights, sponsorship rights, and personal endorsement programmes; the creation, financing, exploitation and protection of events and venues; brand licensing, channel carriage, digital encryption and content security corporate ticketing programmes; and player transactions, sports regulations, corporate acquisitions and new product development.

Recent work includes advising:

• BT Vision on the acquisition of Premiership Rugby broadcasting rights; the acquisition of movies, programmes and channels from major studios; its negotiations with music companies; its sponsorship and endorsement programmes; and the development and acquisition of its conditional access system for set top boxes
• A consortium on the potential purchase of a Formula 1 Team
• Pitch International on the marketing and sale of international media rights and its agreement to use billboard advertising replacement technology
• Sportfive International on the marketing and sale of media rights to premium sports properties throughout Europe and Asia

Paul has also advised on the protection of intellectual property rights, including trade marks and copyright and the design and implementation of anti-ambush marketing and anti-counterfeiting programmes.

He has a background in sports marketing, having worked for sports teams and venues in the UK and the USA. He is co-author of the leading international textbook, Sport: Law and Practice.