On the first anniversary of the promulgation of the newly revised sports law, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) for the first time released typical civil cases involving sports disputes at a press conference on June 21.

The cases involve contract disputes, intellectual property and competition disputes, labor disputes, and infringement liability disputes. To be specific, issues of common concern, such as stakeholder disputes caused by poor management of gyms, disputes caused by delayed award issuance of mass sports events, and disputes caused by sports enthusiasts injured in training facilities, were all addressed in the released cases.

By establishing a seamless internal coordination mechanism for adjudication and enforcement and building a diversified collaborative platform for dispute resolution with other corresponding departments, the people's courts have striven to explore a new model of litigation-source governance in the sports industry in order to timely and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of sports consumers and enterprises, and stimulate consumption enthusiasm and market vitality. These efforts are also conducive to the implementation of the national fitness strategy and enhancing the people's sense of gain, happiness and security in participating in sports and fitness activities.

In competitive sports, the protection of athletes' rights and interests has always been the focus of public attention. Therefore, cases involving disputes related to the vital interests of athletes were included in the release too, such as arrears of wage to athletes and the identification of labor relations concerning underage athletes, as well as the identification of liability for damage caused by foul acts in competitive sports and the liability of event organizers for breach of contract.

The effect of sports arbitration was also clarified at the press conference, which indicates that arbitration and litigation are mutually exclusive ways to handle sports disputes. That is, the parties may not choose litigation to solve the same dispute after choosing arbitration.

The protection of sports-related intellectual property rights is another highlight of the release, which aims to strictly regulate all kinds of unfair competition behaviors, and foster a benign atmosphere for the IPR protection.