Don’t get into trouble over the Olympics

A lot of our week has been spent debating how to work with client sites when the  ”Cookies Law” grace period ends in May, we still don’t have a definitive answer on that one, but there will be more information to follow in the coming weeks.

However, the topic for today is the Olympics, this London Games are less than 100 days away now and for many the excitement is building, but unless you are a sponsor don’t get any ideas about seeing this sporting event as a marketing opportunity!

The Olympic logo became protected by law in 1995, and the legislation around the event is set out in the London Olympic Games & Paralympic Games Act 2006, amongst other things this includes rules to protect the official sponsors of the Games.

There are lots of rules about advertising near the Olympics and trading within ‘event zones’ (unless you already have a shop there – and even then there are some strict ruules), but the one’s we’ll concern ourselves with here are the one most website owners might be considering..

You must not:

• Use the Olympic symbol
• Use the five ring Olympic symbol
• Use the 2012 logo
• Use the words ‘games’, ’2012′,’ two thousand and twelve’ in combination with London, gold, silver, bronze or medals.

Failure to comply with these rules could you get you into trouble with LOCOG (the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) and a fine up to £20,000.