At present, the International Olympic Committee, the Beijing Winter Olympic organizing committee and the Chinese Olympic Committee are the rights holders stipulated in the regulations on the protection of Olympic symbols.
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 8 (reporter Ji Ye) the Chinese Olympic Committee issued a statement on its official website on the 8th, saying that protecting intellectual property rights is its unremitting work, in particular, it is necessary to prevent the use of Olympic intellectual property rights and the name of Olympic events from damaging the image of the Olympic movement and the legitimate rights and interests of relevant rights and other parties.
With the development of network technology, especially the recent activity of non-contact transactions such as Internet business activities caused by special circumstances, the China Olympic Committee’s leased line for intellectual property protection has received many inquiries and complaints against illegal marketing related to the Olympics. For example, it claimed that it was held in the name of the so-called “world Olympic sports foundation” and used the Tokyo Olympic Torch Relay (torchbearer) to collect money under the banner of blockchain technology and “Olympic hopefuls”. And its special product name is engaged in commercial development, as well as the use of the word “Olympic” for non-Olympic activities such as debate competitions and collecting sponsorship, etc. In this regard, the Legal Affairs Office of the market development department of the Chinese Olympic Committee emphasized :
1. The regulations on the protection of Olympic symbols and the Olympic Charter all stipulate that the owners of the Olympic symbols (intellectual property rights) have exclusive rights to the Olympic symbols. The aforementioned intellectual property rights include exclusive names such as “Olympic Games”, “Olympic Games” and “Winter Olympics. According to this, all commercial activities that use the Olympic symbols, especially the Olympic Games and other related names, including activities that grant sponsorship (cooperation) units to use the aforementioned intellectual property rights as conditions for commercial publicity and return, all need to obtain the direct permission of the right holder of the Olympic symbol in advance. Other unrelated institutions have no right to make permission in this regard, nor to collect advertisements, sponsor or entrust third parties to engage in such acts.
At present, the International Olympic Committee, the Beijing Winter Olympic organizing committee and the Chinese Olympic Committee are the rights holders stipulated in the regulations on the protection of Olympic symbols. Among them, during the period of 2022 beijing winter olympics, the license for commercial use of olympic symbols in china was mainly made by the international olympic committee and the beijing winter olympic organizing committee according to their respective rights and responsibilities.
II. Projects carried out by the rights holders of the Olympic symbols in the name of the Olympic five-ring symbol, the exclusive names such as “Olympic” and “Olympic” and the official Olympic activities such as torch relay, culture and education, they all have strict approval procedures and rules, and will not directly allow third-party institutions to carry out relevant sponsorship collection and financing without the rights holders themselves participating in management. For such projects that cannot be confirmed to have formal approval, those who have doubts can directly check with the right holder. The special line for intellectual property protection of the Chinese Olympic Committee is: 010-67110744, the email address is: [email protected]; The complaint number of the Beijing Winter Olympic organizing committee is: 010-12330, and the email address is: [email protected].
At the same time, the registered participants of the Olympic Games and even the audience on the spot have the obligation to abide by the regulations on the protection of Olympic symbols, the Olympic Charter and other relevant provisions, and they will not and shall not participate without authorization, support commercial activities that violate the above provisions.
In addition, those approved to use the Olympic symbol, Olympic Games, Chinese Olympic Committee and other names in public welfare social publicity, it will not collect sponsorship from non-existing Olympic Market Development Cooperative enterprises and provide them with marketing publicity opportunities through such public welfare activities.
III. According to the IOC the magistracy management principle, Olympic organizations outside China (such as national/regional Olympic committees and Olympic organizing committees) those whose sponsors are engaged in Olympic sponsorship marketing in China (including online and offline methods) should obtain Olympic organizations in China in advance, namely the Chinese Olympic Committee and (or) the Beijing Winter Olympic organizing committee agreed in advance (in the cycle of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in 2022, especially the approval of the Beijing Winter Olympic organizing committee). Among them, sponsors of overseas Olympic organizations are not allowed to publish or sell advertisements and products containing intellectual property rights of overseas Olympic organizations within China without the prior consent of Olympic organizations within China.
At the same time, in view of the liquor-sponsored enterprises in some illegal marketing activities related to Olympics, as well as the situation that only WeChat and mobile phone numbers are provided, other contact information and valid office addresses of the organizers are not provided, the Legal Affairs Office also indicated that such situations would not exist in formal activities. Take the hard liquor advertisement as an example. Currently, it is banned in the Olympic Games.
4. It is understood that the relevant departments of the chinese olympic committee and the beijing winter olympic organizing committee have established a close cooperation mechanism in a timely manner and cooperated with law enforcement agencies to confirm the rights of many infringement acts, the merchants also investigated and dealt with a number of infringements. After the Tokyo Olympic Games is rescheduled, it is likely that the marketing superposition effect will be formed due to the shortening of the interval with Beijing Winter Olympic Games. To this end, the two sides will further strengthen cooperation and join hands with relevant government departments, relevant rights holders and legal users to continue to do a good job in the protection of Olympic intellectual property rights.