Cyber Sports vs. E-Sports: On the Conceptual Framework

Abstract

The article discusses the features of esports and the differentiation of the specified concept is carried out with the term “computer sport”. The authors conclude than the term “computer sport” is the category of public law and doesn’t feature the use of such a result of intellectual activity as videogame during the esport competitions. The article indicates that esport differs from computer sport because of the format of competition not the equipment, i.e. that the competitions are conducted in the virtual space. The authors justify that not any game may be the basis of esport, but only the online multiplayer game because it meets the criteria as common playing field. The authors substantiate the complex nature of the relations that make up esports, which have independent legal regulation. These relations are at the junction of public and civil law: the norms of public (sport) law regulates the order of the competition and the legal status of the sportsmen; the norms of civil law establishes the features of videogame use as the object of intellectual property.