The Olympic Games and trademarks: when copyright is involved

Each Olympic Games has its own logo. Just remember..: And soon: Few know this, but the officialization of these logos has sometimes been coupled with merciless brand wars. Indeed, since the logo is a work of the mind, a person who has previously created an identical or similar logo is the holder of an opposable copyright, regardless of the activity for which the logo is used. This is what distinguishes, among other things, copyright from trademark law (a trademark that must be registered for specific products and services). In this case, it was the Tokyo logo for the 2020 Olympics that had to be changed in a hurry. The previous logo had suffered the wrath of the designer of the logo of the Liège theatre: It must be admitted that the geometric shapes of the logo of the Liège theatre are all found within the logo of the Tokyo Olympics. However, such basic shapes may have been imagined by two different designers without necessarily involving plagiarism. This is in any case what the Japanese designer claims. But in order to avoid a long and not very shiny trial, the Olympic organizing committee of Japan decided to change the logo, in favour of the one reproduced above (which I find, by the way, only binding for me, much more elegant and modern). The checkerboard pattern is a traditional Japanese pattern dating from the Edo era (called "ichimatsu moyo"), and the three different shapes taken up by the rectangles that make it up symbolise the diversity of countries, cultures and opinions that make up the richness of the world. Pretty, isn't it? However, Japan is not the only country that has a problem with the logo of its games. Paris is also in the media spotlight, with its bid logo for the 2024 games, which looks too close to that of an English events company called 4Global : However, the lawyers of the French organising committee seem confident that there is no counterfeiting in this case because, according to them, the differences take precedence over the similarities. Furthermore, we have not yet heard of any action by 4Global. Today it is so difficult to find the Original Idea, the one that has never been imagined by anyone, anywhere in the world, that this kind of coincidence will only multiply with time. A fortiori in our countries where copyright is not subject to any registration, and where it is therefore impossible to realize full background checks.