Olympic Properties at the Paris Olympic Games 2024: The lines you should not cross (even if you are an athlete)

The Olympic Games 2024 are underway! However, although the merriment surrounding the event invites to light-heartedness, one should be careful not to be carried away when it comes to the use of the so-called “Olympic Properties”. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its affiliated entities tend to defend their IP rights fiercely against infringers, which is why businesses should be aware of the following.

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1. What are Olympic Properties ?

The Olympic Charter is the result of the IOC’s efforts to organise the Olympic movement and codifies all principles, rules and by-laws pertaining to the Olympic Games. In its Rule 7, the Charter reserves all rights relating to the symbol, flag, motto (“Citius, Altius, Fortius”), anthem, identifications (including the terms “Olympic Games” and “Games of the Olympiad”), as well as any musical, audiovisual or creative works exclusively to the IOC, covering a broad range of different objects.

Many of the objects defined as Olympic Properties enjoy protection through traditional IP rights such as trademarks, designs or copyright. The IOC allows certain third parties to make use of its IP rights protecting Olympic properties through licensing agreements as part of the Olympic Partners Program such as Coca-Cola, LVMH or Samsung. However, any use of the IOC’s trademarks, designs or other IP rights by an unauthorized third party constitutes an infringement.

2. A specific protection in national French law

Apart from “regular” IP rights, the Olympic Properties benefit from specific protections as such in many countries. For instance, the Nairobi Treaty of 1981 provides that each contracting party (56 countries as of 2023) is obliged to refuse or invalidate the registration of a mark and to prohibit the use for commercial purposes of any sign consisting of or containing the Olympic symbol without the IOC’s authorisation.

In this spirit, the French lawmaker has provided a series of new rules in the French Sports Law (Code du Sport), whereby the French National Olympics and Sports Committee (CNOSF) is the sole owner of the national Olympic emblems as well as the sole custodian on the French territory of many of the IOC’s Olympic Properties. As a special measure, the Organisation Committee for the Olympics and Paralympics (COJOP) is the only entity authorized to file an action against infringements to the new rules committed between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2024, with the CNOSF only being able to join the proceedings to seek compensation for its own damages. With these new rules, any third party registering as a trademark, reproducing, imitating, affixing, deleting or modifying the elements and terms enjoying the new specific protection without due authorisation from the CNOSF is deemed to infringe against the CNOSF’s rights and is liable to the same criminal sentences as those provided for in trademark infringement matters by the French Intellectual Property law (Code de la Propriété Intellectuelle). These range between three and seven years imprisonment and between EUR 300.000 and EUR 700.000 fines depending on the nature of the infringement. However, contrary to trademarks, Olympic Properties enjoy absolute protection, as there is no need for the COJOP / CNOSF to prove the existence of a prior IP right or of a likelihood of confusion between the Olympic Property concerned and the infringing sign. It is worth noting that these rules do not compel the French Trademark Office to refuse trademark applications for signs that resemble an Olympic Property – attempting to register such a sign without authorisation may only give cause to a civil lawsuit before the competent civil law court.

3. Useful links

For more information on Olympic Properties and their protection, please visit the following links:

https://olympics.com/ioc/olympic-properties

https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/General/EN-Olympic-Charter.pdf

https://cnosf.franceolympique.com/les-proprietes-olympiques (in French)