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Businesses Beware Of Cashing In On The Olympics- 18/01/2012
With less than 200 days to go to the start of the London Olympic Games, and advertising and marketing campaigns by official sponsors starting to build momentum, a leading Wolverhampton commercial litigation lawyer is warning that any business thinking about cashing in on the Games needs to be very careful.
“The Olympic Games in general, and the 2012 London Olympics in particular, are perhaps the best legally protected sporting events in the world, which will make it very difficult for non-sponsors to make any unauthorised marketing connection between their business activities / products and the Games,” says Charlotte Clode, a solicitor in the Litigation Department of Wolverhampton law firm FBC Manby Bowdler LLP.
“London 2012 has cost hundreds of millions of pounds to host and organise and selling sponsorship of the Games is a huge source of revenue for the organisers.
“As a result, official sponsors of the Games will have the right to use its branding and have been given exclusive association with London 2012. But, they have paid for that privilege, so specific UK legislation, as well as trade mark rights and copyright, protects the logos, words and symbols from unauthorised use, and even prevents organisations from associating themselves with the Games without authority from the organisers,” explains Miss Clode, who is a member of the firm’s specialist IP, Technology & Media Law Group.
“Infringing association rights is the area where businesses are most likely to fall down in any marketing campaign. Only official sponsors who have made substantial investment in the Games will have that right and so it is vital that other businesses considering marketing campaigns around the Games seek legal advice to ensure that they avoid use of any protected words and images and avoid infringing association rights, otherwise they could be facing costly court action,” concludes Miss Clode.