The exponential growth of the competitive electronic gaming industry, known as e-Sports, has transformed an activity previously associated only with leisure into a true economic, cultural, and social phenomenon. International competitions, professional teams, multi-million dollar sponsorship contracts, and live broadcasts with audiences comparable to those of traditional sports demonstrate the consolidation of e-Sports as a highly lucrative global market. In Brazil, this scenario is also confirmed, with the increasing professionalization of players, organizations, and championships.
Despite this factual and economic evolution, the Brazilian legal system has not yet satisfactorily kept pace with the particularities inherent to e-sports. The absence of specific legislation generates legal uncertainty, especially regarding the protection of e-sports athletes, notably concerning their personality rights, such as the right to their image, name, voice, and honor.
Given this, relevant questions arise: can e-sports players be considered professional athletes? Is it possible to apply the Pelé Law to this modality by analogy? How does the economic exploitation of these players' image occur?
With a focus on protecting the personality rights of digital athletes, the need for regulatory adaptation to contemporary reality is highlighted.
E-sports as a sporting modality and its legal implications.
The first relevant legal controversy concerns the recognition of e-sports as a sporting modality. Although there is social resistance to equating traditional sports with electronic games, it is undeniable that e-sports involve organized competition, predefined rules, intensive training, a high level of technical performance, and participation in national and international championships.
From a legal perspective, recognizing e-sports as a high-performance sport is fundamental for the application of a protective legal regime for athletes. Law No. 9.615/1998 (Pelé Law) was designed to regulate professional sports, ensuring labor, contractual, and property rights for athletes, as well as establishing duties for sports organizations. However, the legislation does not expressly address e-sports, which creates regulatory gaps.
In practice, many professional e-sports players sign atypical contracts, lacking clarity regarding the legal nature of the established relationship—whether it's employment, civil, or business-related. This scenario weakens the athlete's position, who frequently submits to abusive clauses, broad assignments of rights, and a lack of minimum guarantees. Legislative recognition of e-sports as a sporting modality would allow for greater legal security, including enabling its inclusion in public policies that promote sports.
Personality rights and the activities of e-sports athletes.
Personality rights occupy a central position in the Brazilian legal system, finding their foundation in the dignity of the human person. These are rights inherent to the individual, such as the right to life, physical and mental integrity, honor, name, image, and privacy. In the context of e-sports, these rights assume special relevance, since the athlete's professional activity is directly linked to the public exposure of their image and identity.
Live streaming, online and in-person championships, as well as the production of digital content, mean that the player's image is constantly exploited for economic purposes. Image rights, therefore, constitute one of the main assets of an e-sports athlete. However, their use must respect legal limits, requiring express and specific authorization from the holder.
Although the Civil Code, in its article 11, provides for the inalienability and non-transferability of personality rights, contemporary interpretation rejects an absolute reading of this provision. Legal doctrine and jurisprudence admit the possibility of voluntary and temporary limitation of these rights, especially regarding their patrimonial aspect. Thus, the execution of contracts that provide for the onerous transfer of the use of an image is legally valid, provided that there is no violation of the athlete's dignity.
Image rights and broadcasting rights in e-sports.
It is important to distinguish image rights from so-called arena rights. Image rights are highly personal and belong exclusively to the athlete, consisting of the right to authorize or not the use of their image by third parties. Arena rights, traditionally provided for in the Pelé Law, refer to the prerogative of sports entities to negotiate the broadcasting of sporting events, ensuring athletes a share of the revenue generated.
In the context of e-sports, the lack of specific regulations regarding image rights creates uncertainty about the remuneration of athletes for the exploitation of broadcasts of championships and events. Often, organizations and platforms use the image of players without a clear provision for financial compensation, which may constitute a violation of personality rights.
The analogous application of the provisions of the Pelé Law to e-sports emerges as an interpretative alternative to fill this gap, recognizing the right of digital athletes to participate in the profits resulting from the economic exploitation of events. However, this solution does not replace the need for specific legislation capable of adequately regulating the sector's particularities.
Conclusion
E-sports represent a consolidated reality in the contemporary sporting and economic landscape, demanding attention from legislators and legal professionals. The absence of specific regulations exposes e-sports athletes to situations of legal vulnerability, especially regarding the protection of their personality rights.
The recognition of e-sports as a sporting modality, coupled with the adaptation or creation of regulations that guarantee contractual, labor, and property rights to athletes, is a necessary measure to provide legal security to the sector. Furthermore, adequate protection of image rights and broadcasting rights is essential to ensure that the economic exploitation of the activity respects the dignity and autonomy of the players.
Given this scenario, it is concluded that legislative progress is essential to keep pace with the evolution of e-sports, promoting balance in legal relations and ensuring the full protection of digital athletes, in accordance with the fundamental principles of the Brazilian legal system.
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