November 13, 2007 by Allan Oziel
In its October 25th, 2006 Annual Report, the Vancouver Organizing
Committee (VANOC) announced its intention to implement special legislation
to protect the Olympic brand and to prevent ambush marketing of its
sponsors for the period leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics. As a
result, on June 22, 2007, Bill C-47, the Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act
was brought into force. The Act essentially prevents the promotion of
business through the use or adoption of any mark that may be mistaken for
an Olympic mark. In determining whether a person is in contravention of
the mark, the court may take into consideration the use of words,
expressions and symbols that have been listed in the schedules of the Act.
However, this list includes generic words such as “games, “winter” or
“gold”.
Prohibiting the uses of such generic terms in any capacity can be seen as
limiting freedom of expression, which is one of the fundamental freedoms
obtained in s.2(b) our Charter of Rights. Should a sporting goods store
that sells hockey and skiing equipment be prohibited from describing their
products as equipment for winter games? Clearly the intent of such a store
such would not be to capitalize on this limited opportunity or to ambush
the market. Rather, the store owners would simply wish to use these
generic terms to accurately describe their products. Incredibly, under
this Act, if this description is seen as implying an “association” with
the Olympics, VANOC could apply for an order seizing all goods using the
contravening mark, a remedy that is clearly unnecessary in most
circumstances.
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