BEIJING (Reuters) – China is cracking down on any unauthorised use of the Olympics logo or athlete names as part of a special intellectual property protection campaign in the run up to the Feb. 4-20 Winter Games in Beijing, state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday.
The campaign, which began in October, will last till June, Xinhua quoted the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) as saying.
Any “malicious” trademark registration using the names of famous Olympic athletes and business activities that take advantage of the Olympic elements without authorisation will be targeted, with authorities keeping a close watch on factories and e-commerce platforms, they said.
The campaign aims to put “high pressure” on any such violations and “to enhance awareness of the whole society to respect and protect the intellectual property rights of the Winter Olympics,” a CNIPA director, Zhang Zhicheng, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
Earlier this month, in a move underlining the campaign’s focus, Beijing customs officials announced they had seized 100 fabric patches with the Olympic five-ring logo in a parcel.
The sender had failed to prove it was authorized by the International Olympic Committee.
They described it as the first cross-border goods case involving an Olympic logo infringement that they had seized this year.
(Reporting by Albee Zhang and Brenda Goh; Editing by Rohith Nair)
