Formula One's attempt to register the abbreviation "F1" as a trade mark has been rejected by the UK trade mark registry. Formula One Licensing BV, the commercial rights holder in Formula One, applied to register "F1" as a word mark but faced opposition from Racing Live SA, a French company which runs the website www.f1-live.com. This is the latest in a series of cases where sports rights holders have failed to register marks in similar circumstances.

The International Rugby Board, the world governing body of rugby union, has failed in its attempt to prevent an event hospitality agency from offering corporate packages at the Rugby World Cup in France without the prior approval of the tournament's organising committee and rights holder, Rugby World Cup Limited. The decision threatens to devalue hospitality packages sold by sports governing bodies and sports rights holders at major sporting events and calls into question the validity of exclusive hospitality arrangements between rights holders and a select number of commercial agents.

A number of French sports rights holders and governing bodies, including la Ligue de Football Professionnel and la Federation Française de Tennis, have joined the copyright class action law suit against YouTube and its owner Google, which the Premier League and music publisher Bourne jointly commenced in the New York state courts last May.

UK Sport has announced that it intends to fund an independent doping panel which will hear cases against athletes and sportspersons on behalf of sports governing bodies. Meanwhile, UK Sport is also at loggerheads with the British Olympic Association (the "BOA") over the announcement that a separate anti-doping commission has been set up, to be run by the BOA, which is tasked with evaluating legislative needs in the context of anti-doping in the build up to the 2012 Olympic Games. Nevertheless, the UK Government remains sceptical of the need to legislate for doping offences, despite a number of European countries recently implementing new laws.

Threats from media bodies including Reuters and Associated Press to boycott coverage of the IRB Rugby World Cup 2007 have resulted in the IRB reducing conditions previously imposed on the media relating to the tournament. The dispute highlights the difficulties faced by sports governing bodies and rights holders as the evolution of new media risks overlap with broadcast arrangements.

With the final provisions of the Gambling Act 2005 coming into force on 1 September 2007, the UK gambling industry has bowed to government pressure and agreed to a voluntary code of practice which includes a ban on the display of gambling operators' logos on children's replica kits. On a separate note, the UK government has reportedly agreed to support five sports, namely football, rugby union, rugby league, cricket and tennis, in their approach to bookmakers for a voluntary contribution based on a share of each sport's respective betting revenues while, in France, the European Commission has formally requested that the country amends its laws preventing overseas gaming companies from operating within its territory.

In another extraordinary turn in the Carlos Tevez saga, Sheffield United is now understood to have initiated proceedings against West Ham for "breaches of contract". The Blades are seeking damages worth up to £50m from the Hammers, which they estimate as the possible cost of their relegation from the Premier League.

The European Commission's long-awaited White Paper on Sport, intended to provide strategic orientation on the role of sport in the EU, was finally published on 11 July 2007. However, a number of sports governing bodies, including the IOC and FIFA, have labelled the White Paper as a "missed opportunity" and have criticised it for only paying lip service to the concept of the specificity of sport and for failing to accord such concept a more concrete expression under EU law.

FIFA has reportedly agreed to pay $90m to MasterCard, its long-standing financial services partner, as part of the out-of-court settlement of their bitter dispute relating to FIFA's decision to end negotiations with MasterCard for a new agreement and instead sign up with its rival, Visa.

In the wake of the outcry surrounding the role of football agents over the past twelve months, the FA finally published its comparably controversial domestic Football Agents Regulations (the "Regulations") in July of this year and which came into effect on 1 September. The Regulations govern the activity of agents authorised by the FA and transactions and activity in the domestic football market.

Ben continued to advise the Ladies European Tour in relation to its commercial arrangements for the 2007 Solheim Cup, which was played at Halmstad Golfklubb in Sweden between 14th - 16th September.

Ben advised International Sportsworld Communicators Limited on its recent appointment of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority as an official partner to the FIA World Rally Championship.

Bob and Paul advised the Prince's Trust in relation to the staging and promotion of the Friendship Cup, a one-day cricket match between India and Pakistan that was held in Glasgow in July.

Bob and Anil advised Diageo on its broadcast sponsorship of Premiership football programmes being transmitted in Africa.

Ben advised the Thames Festival, which took place on the 15th - 16th September, on its sponsorship arrangements with Barclays that resulted in the Barclaycard OnePulse brand being appointed as the main festival sponsor.

We are delighted to announce that Anil Matharu has joined the firm's Sports and Sponsorship Groups. Anil, who qualified in March 2006, has prior experience in these sectors and will be advising on general commercial arrangements across both industry groups.