18 May 2006

Don’t Mention the “O” Word!

A well-known international sporting event is to be held in England’s capital city in a year 6 years from now. Huge sums of money have been raised for this event, millions of pounds of Lottery money have been earmarked for it, and huge buildings are being planned, and constructed for it. As I recall lots of people were very pleased and proud when our Capital city was chosen last July to be the hosts of this event. However, if you refer to this aforementioned international sporting event (bear with me, I’m having to choose my words carefully here), in print, you could find yourself on the wrong side of the law. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games Limited (“LOCOG”) has been tasked with raising the further hundreds of millions of pounds needed to host the event (that’s the event I can’t mention – you know - there will be lots of athletes running around and throwing things, started in Greece a long time ago). In order to raise this funding, the LOCOG will be selling sponsorship, merchandise and of course tickets. It is very important to the LOCOG that the value of the sponsorship and merchandise should not be diluted by unofficial use of any reference to the event. In order to assist the LOCOG in its task a number of words, phrases and symbols have been trademarked, these are known as the Games’ marks. These marks are being jealously guarded by the LOCOG, and it has a couple of extra pieces of legislation to help it. These are The Olympic Symbol etc (Protection) Act 1995, and The London Olympic Games And Paralympic Games Act 2006. Together, these Acts give statutory protection to the Games’ marks, and also prohibit any unauthorised association between people, goods and services and the “Event”. So what can’t you print? The following are some of the current items that comprise the Games’ marks: · The Olympic Symbol · The Paralympic Symbol · The London 2012 logo · The words “London 2012” · The words “Olympic”, “Olympiad”, “Olympian” (and their plurals) · The words “Paralympic”, “Paralympiad”, “Paralympian” (and their plurals) · The Olympic motto: “Citius Altius Fortius”/”Faster Higher Stronger” · The Paralymic motto: “Spirit in Motion” · The Paralympics GB logo · The Team GB logo · The British Olympic Association logo · London2012.com (and various derivatives) This is not an exhaustive list, and more words and phrases may be added in due course. The use of these marks, or any other marks or logos that are similar to, or likely to be mistaken for any of the marks is prohibited unless you have written consent from the LOCOG. The LOCOG has made it very clear that they will take legal proceedings against anyone who infringes their rights over the marks or association with the “Event”. The penalties for infringement are potentially very severe, and will include, injunction orders, the seizure of any unauthorised merchandise, damages, and the accounting for any profits made. On top of all that, anyone found to be infringing these rights is likely to also have to pay the legal costs of the LOCOG incurred in taking the enforcement action. There are various defences available in specific cases, for example, if your customer is “The Olympic Café”, which has been trading under that name for 20 years, and wants new menus printed, they are probably going to be quite safe in defending any enforcement action arising from their use of the “O” word. However, these instances are going to be the exception rather than the rule. If you are in any doubt as to whether a job will infringe the rights of the LOCOG, we advise caution. You can check whether your customer has been granted the right to be associated with the “Event”, by checking the LOCOG register. If you want to speak to someone in the legal team please call us on 01454 333338