Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement at Major Events: Practical Lessons Learnt from the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games
| DOI | 10.1093/jiplp/jpl201 |
| Date | 19 December 2006 |
| Pages | 19-22 |
| Year | 2006 |
| Published By | Oxford University Press |
State of the Art
Intellectual property protection and enforcement
at major events: Practical lessons learnt from the
Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games
Tim Golder and Wendy Burnett*
The Commonwealth Games, held in Melbourne in
March 2006, were a great success both as a sporting
competition and as a community event. It was also a
success from an intellectual property (IP) law perspec-
tive. Few IP issues arose during the event, either from
the activities of counterfeiters or from ambush market-
ing. A number of factors came together in the time
leading up to the event, which contributed to that
success.
Commercial sponsorship has grown markedly in
recent years, but so too has the proliferation of ambush
marketing. As is well documented, ambush marketing
involves an entity, which is not an official sponsor
of the event, attempting to promote itself in relation
to the event, in such a way as to confuse the public
(at the least) into believing that it holds an official
sponsorship of the event, or otherwise to profit from
being seen to be in some way affiliated with the event.
The lessons learnt from the planning for the 2006
Commonwealth Games can benefit others arranging
major sporting events where IP licensing is important
and where counterfeits and ambush marketing there-
fore need to be addressed.
1. Trade mark registrations
At the outset, when the event was awarded to Mel-
bourne by the Commonwealth Games Federation, the
Federation and the Melbourne Organizing Committee
(Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Corporation,
‘M2006’) reached an agreement on the ownership of IP
rights in relevant names and logos. The clarity of this
arrangement gave M2006 certainty as to the steps it
could take to protect and market IP. Trade mark regis-
trations were secured under the Trade Marks Act 1995
(Cth) in a range of classes for the core marks, several
years in advance. Further applications were made on
an ongoing basis as appropriate. In the case of logos,
trade mark protection was augmented by the procuring
of assignments of copyright from creators.
By creating and thoroughly protecting IP, M2006
was able to plan its own marketing activities with cer-
tainty, recognizing that the integrity of its visual iden-
tity as reflected in various indicia and images was
protected.
2. Special legislation
Although trade mark registrations and also the general
State and Commonwealth legislation dealing with mis-
leading and deceptive conduct (the Commonwealth
*
Allens Arthur Robinson, Melbourne, Australia
Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, 2007, Vol. 2, No. 1 19
#The Authors (2006). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
Key issues
†The holding of an international sports event fur-
nishes opportunities both for official sponsors
and for their competitors to reach out to poten-
tial customers. Official sponsors are, however,
anxious not merely to seek new custom but to
protect their investment in the event.
†The registration and enforcement of intellectual
property rights is an obvious course for event
organisers to take. This course depends for its
efficacy on a variety of careful preparations, both
legal and practical, for every eventuality. Secur-
ing special purpose legislation is particularly
beneficial.
†In this article, the task of the responsible organ-
iser is depicted and explained. This task involves
planning and commitment long in advance of
the event itself; it also involves gaining the cor-
poration of the media, councils, venue managers,
volunteers and even participants.
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