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No Free Speech In Advertising When It Comes To The Olympics
from the you-must-pay-up-first dept
Ah, the Olympics. While many people think of great sporting events, increasingly, it seems that the Olympics is becoming associated with heavy handed attempts to stop anyone from mentioning the Olympics without paying up first. A few years ago, the US Olympics committee went cease-and-desist happy by threatening anyone who used the word "Olympics" even if it was clear that the event was separate from the real Olympics. Then, at last year's Athens Olympics, various radio stations were forced to turn off their regular internet streams because they had only paid for the radio rights, and not coughed up even more money for the internet radio rights. Then, athletes were told that they were not allowed to write about the Olympics on their own websites, as that might take away from the media companies that had paid to cover the Olympics. So, the latest news, submitted by John, is that over in the UK, a bill is being proposed that would make it illegal for an advertiser to mention the Olympics or use imagery related to the Olympics unless they were an official sponsor. This isn't about trademark violations, which would be covered by existing law -- but about specifically banning any reference to the games. Non-sponsoring advertisers could not use any combination of the following words: "games", "medals", "gold", "2012", "sponsor" or "summer" in any ads. The Olympics claims they need to do this to "protect" their sponsors -- but it's unclear why they deserve any kind of special protection. It's just yet another case of people misusing intellectual property for their own short-term benefit. In this case, all it will serve to do is make the Olympics that much less interesting.
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Agreed
Blame it on the Los Angeles Olympics. They were privately financed and made a supposed "profit" of over $200 million US. Ever since then, the Olympics have become a commercial juggernaut. The fact that the atheletes could not write about their experience through a blog reflects the commercial nature of the Olympics. It's all about the money not the glory.
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Patent Nonsense
Your conclusion about the games becoming much less interesting is obviously true, as clearly the local pub's chalkboard advertising their Gold-Medal Greasburger and Olympic-sized beer servings embody everything that is good and noble about the games.
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0Iymp1c Hopefuls?
A local Minneapolis band, The Olympic Hopefuls, was forced to drop the first half of their name. Apparently the USOC has some semblence of a sense of humor: "One representative reportedly pointed out that the Hopefuls' colorful stage outfits are Puma tracksuits and not Adidas, the official supplier for U.S. Olympic athletes." Full article here.
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Re: 0Iymp1c Hopefuls?
They just forced the Ferret Olympics to drop the term olympic from their title. I can see why as they're easily confused- ferrets and weasels. Will Olympic Pizza be next? The olympic games are so far removed from their roots that I have no interest in them or their sponsors. A pox on them all.
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No Subject Given
What a come down from the Pierre's ideals. Did it take only 109 years (more like 80+ years since it started in 70s) for it to rot this bad?
What next? A multi-billion dollar Boy Scouts Corporation? How about a for-profit(-ONLY!) United Nation Inc and its wholly owned subsidiary UNESCO Ltd?
May be a Religion Inc which buys out Catholicism,Islam,Hinduism and Buddhism is not a bad idea.
I am also for a Global Government Inc. headed by Dubya which will go on a buying spree, buying up all other governments. May work out to be cheaper than waging wars.
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Re: 0Iymp1c Hopefuls?
I'm waiting for my cease and desist letter for using the word Olympics in my post. I'm sure some official media sponsor will insist that the Olympic Committee of my country send the letter as quickly as possible.
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“Boycott” “riot” and “protest”
It is funny that they didn’t also try to ban the use of some other words - “Boycott” “riot” and “protest” all come to mind as relevant and likely consequences.
Bow down before the one you serve, you’re going to get what you deserve.
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Unbelievable
Ad agencies in the UK can't even use the words "summer" or "2012" now without violating trademark? They actually granted the Olympic Committee a de facto trademark on all uses of the word "summer"?
This world is starting to resemble a Douglas Adams novel more and more every day. Where's my towel?
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