Imagine You’re A Highly Successful Sports Star…

How Guernsey is positioning itself to become the key global centre for image rights registration and management.

The good

Imagine that you wake up tomorrow morning in a palatial country mansion. You're an extremely talented and highly successful sports star, well-known throughout the world and admired by millions. What would you do with this fame? Become the face of a sports brand for a large pot of cash? Keep a low profile and limit your public exposure? Use your fame to promote a charitable cause close to your heart?

Regardless of whether fame is exploited or guarded, in today's celebrity obsessed world it is important that individuals have control over the use of their name, likeness, distinctiveness and personality: their 'image'. Many jurisdictions have recognised an individual's right to their image - or 'image right' - such as the right of publicity in the US. In the UK, celebrities have sought to control their image using trade marks, data protection,