On January 09, 2019, the first university research center for esports law (FeSR) in Germany was founded at the Faculty of Law of the University of Augsburg. This is an independent institution of the Faculty of Law and deals with the numerous legal questions that have arisen – due to the rapid growth of eSports – for several years now.
Research is needed due to the specifics of the industry. This is where new players (e.g., international publishers) meet familiar circumstances (e.g., traditional sports law) and future challenges (e.g., digitization and Industry 4.0). The research interest is further strengthened by economic aspects; Esport, for example, is a very fast growing branch of the economy. This explains, on the one hand, the inclusion in the coalition agreement for the 19th legislative period (paras. 2167-2171) and, on the other hand, the establishment of the “German Games Fund” (EUR 50 million) in the 2019 federal budget.
The aim of the institution is to conduct legal research in the field of esports in order to support the development of the industry. In addition, the FeSR sees itself as a contact for politicians, ministries, associations and companies.
The research center is headed by Prof. Dr. Martin Maties and was founded by him together with Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c.. Michael Kubiciel, Nepomuk Nothelfer, Dipl.-Jur. (Univ.) and Philipp Schlotthauer, Dipl.-Jur. (Univ.). All those involved are looking forward to the challenges of a matter that has so far only been sparsely studied in legal terms.
Since its foundation, the research center has met with great approval. This applies to colleagues in legal research as well as to representatives from politics and practice.
I myself am very curious about the results! Even though, as a lawyer with a focus on esports, among other things, I naturally handle mandates in a more practical way, research in this area can of course do no harm, and possibly also promote acceptance by the courts.
