On 27 December 2018, Llinks Partner Mr. Wu Wei was invited to present his lecture at Shandong University, Qingdao. Named in the "985 Project", "211 Project" meantime a member of the "First-class Chinese Universities", Shandong University is the most renowned comprehensive institution in the province. The Sports Law Research Center established by Shandong University Law School is the first domestic education and research institution which focuses on international sports law, and has long been pioneering in the expertise. The lecture was hosted by Professor Huang Shixi, themed "Intangible Property and Investments of Sports" to discuss the industry's future prospective.
Attorney Wu started with the protection on intangible sports properties, illustrating its social and commercial value, and followed with legal analysis with regard to corresponding investments. During the current years, Chinese sports industry has stepped into the stage of professionalism and commercialization, with value of the athletes' intangible properties increasingly recognized by the market. Therefore, more disputes kept deriving from the athletes' rights of name, image and reputation etc., and more sports professionals got to understand the significance of protection and exploitation of their own value. Such progress runs through the whole career of the athletes, and brings decisive influence on the other stage after their retirement. Likewise, under the background that China is granting easier permission for sports events so as to promote the materialization of the "Sports Plus" concept, event organizers are also starting to be aware of the protection on intangible sports properties in the long run. From the perspectives of both the athletes and event organizers, Attorney Wu made his points on how such properties could be created and further preserved based on his practice experience and hot spot cases. Finally, Attorney Wu made a big-data introduction of the recent trends in sports investment, and followed with thorough illustration on the mode of investments, trend of policies as well as legal risks in various investment projects. The lecture presented a combination of sports, laws and finance etc., provided all audience with the latest view of the industry.
