Drazen_/iStock.
17 Sep 2026, 11:13 am
Businesses thinking of expanding into the padel market in the UK will be well-placed to realise value from doing so if they focus efforts on clearing the way to take their brand to market and back that up with relevant rights registration, promotion and enforcement.
Below, we explore how the rapid rise in participation in padel in the UK is giving rise to a race to derive value from the growing market and explain in more detail what action new entrants to the padel market should take if they want their brands to become market leading.
While padel emerged from wealthy social circles in Mexico in the 1960s and has been popular in Spain for decades, it is only comparatively recently that the sport has taken hold in the UK.
According to figures published earlier this year by LTA Padel, the sport’s governing body in the UK, just 15,000 people were known to have played padel in the UK as recently as 2019. However, that number surpassed one million in 2025 – a doubling of participation from the previous year. This growth has been reflected with new clubs, leagues and tournaments spawning across the UK.
A significant commercial ecosystem has emerged alongside the rapid rise in participation. There has been a wave of investment in new padel courts, as sports clubs, fitness centres, hotels and other holders of real estate seek to diversify into the padel market. In tandem, established equipment and apparel manufacturers in other sports, like tennis, have developed new product lines to capitalise on the growth in padel. They face growing competition from a raft of new entrants to the market that want to establish their own brands – and related goods or services – built around padel.
However, before a business can think about how they might derive any value from a brand name, they need to make sure they are able to make use of it in the markets they wish to operate in.
This involves a clearing exercise and should be led by trade mark specialists. They can check that the preferred brand name is not identical or similar to existing marks that have already been registered by others and prepare a comprehensive specification of goods and services for which the proposed mark should be protected. They can also advise businesses on whether the brand is too descriptive of the goods or services for which it is earmarked for use to be eligible for registration as a trade mark.
One of the indicators of the value businesses see in the UK padel market has been a rise in UK trade mark filings – a 148% year-on-year increase, according to the latest reported figures to spring 2025. This highlights a recognition of the importance of registering trade mark rights in respect of brand names.
While securing trade mark rights would give a business monopoly rights over the use of those marks in the relevant geographic market, this is only useful if the holder of those rights has scope to promote that brand via corresponding websites and social media accounts. For this reason, a comprehensive brand clearance exercise may extend beyond trade mark register searches to include checks of relevant domain names and social media handles. Although these searches are often carried out by specialist providers or marketing teams, they can also be incorporated into a wider trade mark clearance project where required.
In some cases, businesses may find there are already others that hold the relevant domain name rights or who operate the social media handles that accord with their preferred brand. In that case, they may need to decide whether to try to acquire the relevant rights from those third parties and work with trade mark specialists to devise a strategic approach to such acquisitions.
Where searches are clear, it is essential to act quickly to secure the rights. In some circumstances, businesses may find there are lots of similar brands already operating in the public domain, even if not in the same market, and that there is a risk of confusion for consumers and/or of dilution of their brand. In that case, they may want to rethink brand names and commission fresh clearance searches for the new one selected.
If the intention is to promote a brand beyond the UK, clearance searches should be expanded to cover the relevant international markets. Trade mark specialists can support businesses with the international filing process for registering trade marks in multiple jurisdictions – these can be structured either by national application processes operated by national trade mark offices or by making international trademark applications via the Madrid System administered by WIPO. The right strategy for each business will depend on the scope of geographic protection they wish to secure and is something that trade mark specialists can advise on.
Securing the full package of rights in a brand is essential. Domain names and social media are important platforms from which to promote the desired brand image, while underlying trade mark rights allow brand owners to effectively enforce their rights in those brands.
One risk that businesses face is of counterfeit products emerging. Counterfeit goods are products that display the same or similar branding and which seek to confuse consumers over the origin of the goods. Instead of being made in accordance with quality standards set by brands and sold at prices those businesses set, counterfeit products are generally made with lower quality material and sold for a cheaper price. Sometimes, the manufacture or supply of counterfeit products is associated with forced labour or poor working conditions. All of these factors serve to undermine the efforts businesses go to cultivate their brand. They can also pose a reputational risk and reduce revenues.
For nascent brands seeking to establish themselves in the padel market, tackling counterfeits is particularly important. This is because, unlike with established brands, new brands cannot always rely on consumers to be able to distinguish between their authentic quality products and the lower quality fakes that could tarnish or blur their brand.
Brand owners must show that they are willing to enforce the IP rights they hold to deter others from gaining a foothold in the market on the back of their brand. Some third party businesses may seek to register similar brands as trade marks too. In many jurisdictions, trade mark offices will not automatically reject trade mark applications that are similar to marks already registered – the onus is very much on an existing rights holder to raise objections to those applications.
Businesses entering the padel market should put a process in place for taking action against third parties that may infringe their trade mark rights. This might entail setting up trade mark watching services, domain name watching services and maybe even broader online watching services, where they can monitor competitors and potential infringers and be in a position to act quickly where required.
Other actions they can take might include registering with customs authorities, so that customs officers can identify and detain suspected counterfeit goods at the border. It should also involve online monitoring and follow-up action – sending notice and takedown requests. In some cases, going to court to obtain a court injunction against website operators, internet service providers or other third parties may be necessary. Pinsent Masons has developed a brand protection platform, Alteria, which enables organisations to monitor social media and online platforms for acts of infringement.
Fast action is important where rights are being infringed. The longer a rival, infringing, brand co-exists in the market, the more likely it is that a brand owner would be considered to have acquiesced to the infringement of their rights and the more challenging and expensive it is to obtain the removal of that competitor from the market on trade mark grounds.
A rise in disputes over padel brands, with associated recent litigation, serves as a notice of the crowding in the market and of the need to defend a brand’s territory.
In one case ruled on by the Spanish Supreme Court in 2025, padel equipment brand NOX won its trade mark dispute with sportswear company Munich regarding the use of the letter "X" on sporting goods. The decision highlights the growing competition over branding in the padel market and confirms that even reputed trade marks have limits, particularly where businesses seek to claim exclusive rights over simple geometric signs used on different products.
In another case ruled on earlier this year, the EU General Court backed the sports goods company behind the ‘Bullpadel’ trade mark in challenging an EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) decision in a case where the company had been initially unsuccessful in opposing another’s registration of an EU trade mark for ‘blue padel’. The case highlights the intensity of competition for brand protection in the sport, with businesses increasingly willing to litigate over names and branding in a bid to carve out territory in a fast-growing market.
Registering and enforcing rights in a brand will give businesses a platform to grow in the UK padel market and present them with opportunities to commercialise the value in their brand.
As well as marketing and selling directly via domain names and social media accounts, businesses may want to explore commercial licensing. This could, for instance, entail co-branding with certain tournaments or enabling third parties to display the brand on products they make.
Premier Padel, which organises the world’s leading official professional padel tour, announced a global licensing and merchandising partnership with Fanatics in July, which covers e-commerce, retail, wholesale products and memorabilia. It is a clear example of how intellectual property can evolve from a protective asset into a commercial one, generating value through licensing, merchandising and brand extension opportunities that reach far beyond the court.
Building reputation also comes into who a business decides to partner with, whether particular retailers they sell through or athletes they sponsor.
When seeking to cultivate a brand via a partnership with individual athletes, it is important that the sponsorship agreements are tightly drafted to make it clear what is expected of the athletes in return for the sponsorship. Agreements should specify when and how athletes are required to endorse the product – both in person and online – including any minimum posting obligations on social media platforms, the nature of the content athletes may and may not post, and any approval rights the brand retains over that content. Obligations to appear at sponsor events, wear or use the sponsor's equipment and apparel, and to refrain from endorsing competing products or brands during the term of the agreement should also be addressed explicitly.
Exclusivity provisions, image rights and conduct clauses all warrant careful attention. Brands should consider whether to secure exclusivity within a particular sport such as padel, product category or territory, as an athlete who simultaneously endorses a rival brand can significantly dilute the value of a sponsorship. Separately, athletes own rights in their names, likenesses, images, voices and signatures, and the agreement must be clear about the scope of any licence granted to use those rights – across which channels, territories and for how long – and what happens to that licence on termination.
Behavioural expectations should be addressed through a morality or conduct clause, giving the brand the ability to suspend or terminate the arrangement if the athlete engages in conduct likely to bring the brand into disrepute. In the padel market, where much of an athlete's profile is built online, such clauses should be drafted broadly enough to capture social media conduct as well as off-court behaviour. Termination provisions should also include clear notice periods and address the treatment of any co-branded materials upon exit.
Getting these foundations right – from clearance and registration through to enforcement and commercial exploitation – will position brands to capitalise on what is shaping up to be one of the most significant growth stories in UK sport, and those that invest in protection now will be best placed to defend and profit from their position as the market matures and competition intensifies.
Written by
