The proposed legislation, known as The Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act, will provide special time-limited intellectual property protection for Olympic and Paralympic words and symbols associated with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and provide protection against any unauthorised business association with the Games, known as ‘ambush marketing’.
The Vancouver Organising Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) has an obligation to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), its sponsors and government partners to protect the Olympic and Paralympic Brands in Canada. As part of this commitment, VANOC has been engaged in extensive dialogue with Industry Canada on the need for this legislation to ensure adequate protection of the Olympic and Paralympic Brands.
With the introduction of this bill, Canada is following the best practices of other host countries to enact special legislation for Olympic and Paralympic marks including Australia (Sydney 2000 Summer Games), Greece (Athens 2004 Summer Games), Italy (Torino 2006 Winter Games) and China (Beijing 2008 Summer Games). Canadian Parliament adopted legislation for the Montreal 1976 Summer Games. The most similar legislation to the Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act was enacted in Australia for the Sydney 2000 Summer Games and is already in place for the London 2012 Summer Games.
