
Now I know what you’re saying, “what doesn’t infringe on Olympics Marks Usage?” and I would agree with you. After digging through the legalese, if you plan on writing or sharing Olympic Stories, it appears that it will be darn near impossible to avoid infringing on Olympic Trademarks, especially if you want to share Olympic content using social media tools like Hootsuite or Digg. Before we get started, just remember I’m a blogger not a lawyer.
Vancouver 2010 Marks Usage Guidelines Leave Little Room
Here are some of the highlights as they relate to news and the interweb. You can download the Vancouver 2010 Olympics Marks Usage Guidelines hereĀ (sorry folks, the copy I linked to has been removed.)
Domain Name Restrictions
Don’t even think about using the number 2010 or the City name Vancouver or any other “olympic related terms” in your post.
Domain names/URLs: The website and its domain name and URLs for website pages must not include any of the following terms or similar Olympic-related terms: Olympic, Paralympic, 2010, Games, Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada, Team (in English, French or any other language) – Marks Usage Guideline PDF
Tweeting and Sharing Restictions
Thinking about tweeting about the Olympics, make sure your links don’t include an iframe.
The Linking Website must not create a frame, browser or border environment around any of the content of the VANOC or COC Websites, including any frame, browser or border environment containing any sponsorship,
advertising or other commercial text or graphics. – Marks Usage Guideline PDF
Sounds like sharing on Digg or stumbleupon (with the digg bar or stumbleupon frame), or tweeting with Hootsuite (with the iframe active) could put you in violation of the guidelines
Vague Guidelines Could Spell Trouble
The guidelines are so broad that many of us are already in violation of some of them, so what does that mean for enforcement. I guess we’ll find out in 30 something days.
Or some nice person from VANOC’s communications crew could leave some clarity in the comments…
More Olympic Stories
The Vancouver Observer’s Olympics Coverage
Rabble.ca Vancouver Olympic Coverage
Photo Cred: clevercupcakes