to think the Olympics have no right to ban the words "summer" and "London"?!!

[motherofallhangovers]

"Olympics organisers have warned businesses that during London 2012 their advertising should not include a list of banned words, including "gold", "silver" and "bronze", "summer", "sponsors" and "London"." source.

And they're actually going to police this!

"Almost 300 enforcement officers will be seen across the country checking firms to ensure they are not ... illegally associating themselves with the Games"

WTF?! I feel like I've just wandered onto the set of the satire "Twenty-twelve", it's so farcical.

But no, this is real!

i have a question, what about schools using the olympic rings in displays etc? we are making a fabric welcome banner and thought it would be nice to put rings to show when it was made, but was unsure about copyright? someone suggested changing the colours?

Ugh, just want the thing to be over before Britain makes an even bigger arse of itself on the global stage.

You have to be really careful about the rings nailak. There's some useful information on this BBC page which discusses the 2012 Olympic copyright restrictions:
www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/16966126

Oh god! Over kill!
YANBU at all.

I mean this is all so extremely silly. Ambivalence towards this charade is slowly fading out to give way being properly . The torch going past my house means no nursery, no work for DH and me. And I am not pleased. At all.

Utterly ridiculous, I can understand the actual 2012 logo's being copyright, but not the five rings.

They are supposed to represent all the continents and the colours of the worlds flags. They should not be restricted to companies wanting to make money.

As a lawyer I would like to offer my professional, considered, legal opinion on this.....

What a load of utter arse!

Surely the Olympics is something that should be embracing all types of national enthusiasm. The more mentions there are, the better for the games.

OK, so let's examine the evidence..

• Certain words are banned, to be enforced by a roaming brand-police force of purple people.

• You can only use Visa or cash to buy Official Olympic products - despite the fact we know there will be loads of visitors who use Mastercard.

• Individuals will be required to cover up non-approved brand logos on their clothes with stickers in the "brand exclusion zones".

• The official Olympic food will be those well known healthy products McDonalds and Coca Cola.

• Whole lanes of roads which are already under immense pressure on an ordinary day, will be closed to us mere mortals - to allow for the Olympic dignitaries to whizz through town from their West End hotels, as they couldn't possibly, y'know stay in on the Olympic site - it might be good enough for the the athletes but not them! (We don't even offer this kind of concession to foreign heads of state - how big are these guys' egos?!)

This is just to ridiculous to be real!

Now I know it's true - I have strayed into a parallel universe! I am a stuck in an episode of 2012. It's my own Truman show hell!

Help! How do I get out?!!!

OP - sounds more like an episode of The Prisoner or maybe in the depths of George Orwell's archive they'll find 2012 - a sequel to 1984... :o

@ "considered legal opinion"

what rubbish! Do you believe everything you read?

I am trying to incorporate every single one of the banned words in my marketing for the next few weeks.

Bring it on

zipzap 2012 as a sequel to 1984 is inspired :)

boneyjonesy which bit is rubbish please?

oopslateagain clarified upthread that the words need to be used in combination, but still the fact that they've banned words used to describe an event, rather than actual trademarks, and that they're using a force of people to enforce it a new and worrying direction IMO!

That sort of thing can only be enforced through a court of law. The purple hat brigade might ask you to take it down but what authority have they?

They have authority under the London Olympic and Paralympic Games Act 2006 Bonesy.

I stand corrected.
Scary stuff I think we are entering unchartered territory here

How RIDICULOUS

It really does read like an episode of Twenty Twelve. Which presumably will have to change it's name now?!

Have spent the last week sending out cease and desist type letters to companies infringing in the copyright, it has meant reading all the Olympic charter and local committee legislation as well as the British legislation they've enacted. The amount of protection they are afforded is insane

So does that mean that, NEXT for example couldn't advertsie their "summer 2012" range, since they aren't allowed to use 2 words from the banned list in conjunction with each other

saltire by my reading, yup that is correct. Insanity. ((shakes head sadly))

Only if the IOC can convince a court that they are either directly or indirectly attempting to suggest that there's a link between their company or product and the Olympic games

I guess that "Summer 2012 range" might squeak by but "Summer 2012 Sportswear Range" would be more likely to run into trouble.

It's absurd. I've always thought of myself as a capitalist, but these games would have me joining an anti capitalist protest. If there was one. I mean, where are they? Is it just too wet to camp at the steps of St Pauls now?

There was a story in the Metro about a little old lady who embroidered London 2012 and the rings onto a teddy bear for the local primary school's summer fete... it was banned.

Actually there is an anti-Olympics protest in Victoria Park on Sat 28 for anyone who fancies making their views known.

So my carefully worded advert could say:

"gold", "silver" and "bronze" offers for "summer" 2012. Thanks to my "sponsors" X,YandZ, offer not available in "London" branch

Just wondering...