Olympic Trade-Marks Legislation
Proposed legislation has been introduced to focus specifically on the protection of Olympic trade-marks. The Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act (Bill C-47), introduced last week, will attempt to prevent unauthorized use of the Olympic trade-marks by anyone 
other than corporate licensees who have paid handsomely for the privilege of associating themselves with the 2010 Games. Oops, I just used two protected words which appear in the Bill, along with Winter, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Medals and Canada’s Games. In my earlier post, I queried why such legislation was required in light of the extraordinary protection already provided under Section 9 of the Trade-marks Act. Other commentators have also expressed concern over this special-interest legislation. If passed, the law will grandfather all potentially infringing uses which were in use prior to March 2nd. Enforcement will be interesting to watch.Â
 Calgary – 15:06 MST  Â
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[…] There is growing debate (and some misinformation) about the control by private interests over the very essence of language and thought in our society. For example, some of the analysis over the Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act (which came into force in December, 2007) has suggested that anyone uttering the number “2010″ in the same breath as “gold medal” will be subject to sanction at the hands of VANOC, the defenders of the Olympic brand. VANOC has tried to explain its approach to infringement assessment to manage this issue. They seem to be applying an even-handed analysis to enforcement, although I’m sure someone will find a way to test the bounds of that law. […]