An Olympic Intellectual Property Rights Protection Forum was held in Beijing on Friday to call for more protection for Olympic-related designs such as emblems and the mascot.

The forum marked the second anniversary of the unveiling of Regulations on the Protection of the Olympic Marks.

 

Officials from the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) vowed to highlight the importance of protecting Olympic intellectual property rights.

 

"The Olympic emblems symbolize the Olympic spirit and are the core intellectual property of the Olympics," said Wang Wei, BOCOG vice-president and secretary-general. "Implementing the Regulation meets usual international practices and is a great accomplishment."

 

Since the implementation of the regulation, there have been 38 Olympic emblems registered at the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. The Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce has dealt with 144 violations and handed fines to the tune of 840,000 yuan (US$101,000) in the past two years.

 

Committee officials say the regulation efficiently protects the Olympic rights and builds a healthy legal and marketing environment for a best ever Olympic Games in history, committee officials said.

 

To keep its promise of protecting the Olympic intellectual property rights, the BOCOG will continue its efforts to protect its intellectual property, officials said.

 

Those efforts include ongoing promotion about rights protection as part of the Olympic cultural festivals and youth education campaign, a marketing plan that includes only certified products, customer service, enhancing the rights protection on retail markets, advertising and export markets, and severely punishing violators.

 

Marketing plans usually play a major role in income generation for Olympic games.

 

To date, the Athens Olympics has earned more than 200 million euro (US$247 million) from the sales on souvenirs with Olympic marks.

 

(China Daily April 3, 2004)