China Business and Intellectual Property Lawyers & Attorneys : King & Wood Law Firm : China Law Insight : IP, Arbitration, Litigation, Securities, Foreign Investment

In the relevant official documents issued by BOCOG, ambush marketing is defined as “any advertising, promotion, commercial identification or other activities undertaken by a person or entity that may express or imply a fictive or unauthorized association with BOCOG, IOC, the Chinese Olympic Committee, the Chinese Olympic Team, the Olympic Games, the Paralympics or any event organized by any of the foregoing entities”.  The abovementioned definition includes both the acts of infringement in which the Olympic marks are directly used without authorization for market development, and the marketing activities which do not involve direct use of the Olympic marks but indicate or suggest certain links with the Olympics that factually do not exist (the “Latter Method”).

As the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games were approaching, many enterprises which had not obtained sponsorship rights (the “Non-sponsor Enterprises”) attempted to take a free ride with the sports festival.  By taking this chance, they not only expected to raise their enterprises’ profiles and increase the market share of their relevant goods or products, but also wished to mislead the public into believing that they legally obtained the sponsorship rights from the Olympic Games.  Since the acts of directly using the Olympic marks for market development are apparently against the law and explicitly prohibited by Chinese laws and regulations, most of the enterprises engaging in ambush marketing activities did not commit such obvious infringements, instead, they adopted the Latter Method and made efforts to hide their intent by taking advantage of time, space and other objective elements.

Currently, certain acts of ambush marketing already appeared in the Chinese market.  Slogans like “Acclaim for 2008” or “Sing for 2008” used in some Non-sponsor Enterprises’ advertisements are examples for “free riding”.  In the past editions of Olympic Games, acts of ambush marketing were also not rare.

In China, laws and regulations are the first frontier to combat the acts of ambush marketing. The Regulations on Protection of Olympic Symbols, Regulations on Management of Special Marks, Trademark Law, Anti-unfair Competition Law and its judicial interpretation and other laws and regulations constitute the legal basis of the anti-ambush marketing campaign. 

Administrative coordination and supervision are also an important guarantee for the success in combating ambush marketing.  BOCOG has established an Olympic legislation and publicity coordination mechanism jointly with the relevant institutions, groups, athletic teams and administrative authorities managing athletes(including but not limited to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the State Administration of Sport), which might be taken advantage of by the enterprises engaging in ambush marketing in order to exercise unified management over the market development activities related to the Olympic Games.  BOCOG also has implemented a City Operation Plan.  Under this plan, BOCOG shall, during the Olympic Games and in a period before and after the Olympic Games, take steps to bring under control all activities of advertising over the relevant stadiums and gymnasiums as well as venues in the host city and co-host cities, with assistance extended by the competent administration for industry and commerce.  And, through the conclusion of agreements, it shall also manage to bring under control all activities of advertising around the stadiums and gymnasiums, billboard advertising at bus stops and airports and all street promotional columns in the host city and co-host cities to fully guarantee the exclusive right of advertising by the official Olympic sponsors in these areas.  In addition, BOCOG shall monitor visual advertising aired during particular time slots in efforts to prevent and restrict the occurrence of advertisements by Non-Sponsor Enterprises during particular time slots or on particular TV channels.

北京2008奥运会的反隐性市场措施

作者：汪蕊，合伙人 ，金杜律师事务所，奥运工作团队

作为取得奥运会市场开发权益的对价，各相关类别的赞助商向奥运会提供了金额可观的资金和实物投入。每一届奥运会的成功举办都离不开赞助商的大力支持。因此，国际奥委会将赞助商的权益保护视为奥运会筹备组织工作的重要环节。而北京市政府和北京奥组委也在《主办城市合同》及《市场开发计划》中做出了庄严的承诺，将采取一切必要措施防止和打击任何形式的隐性市场行为。

北京奥组委的官方文件中对隐性市场做出了如下定义：由个人或实体所进行的，可能明示或暗示其与北京奥组委、国际奥委会、中国奥委会、奥运会中国体育代表团、奥运会、残疾人奥运会等之间，或者与上述机构组织的任何活动之间具有事实上并不存在的商业性关联的，或虽具有一定的关联但未经上述机构授权的广告、宣传、商业识别或其他活动。上述定义既包含了未经授权直接使用奥林匹克标志进行市场开发的侵权行为，又包含了不直接使用奥林匹克标志，但通过明示或暗示其与奥运会具有某种实际上并不存在的关联而进行的市场开发行为（“后一种方式”）。

随着北京2008年奥运会的日益临近，许多未获得相关赞助权益的企业（“非赞助企业”）都在设法搭上这一体育盛会的“便车”。它们不仅期望借此提高企业的知名度、增加相关产品或服务的市场占有率，甚至希望使公众将其误认为是已从奥运会合法取得赞助权益的企业。由于直接使用奥林匹克标志进行市场开发的行为具有明显的违法性，并且受到了我国相关法律法规的明确禁止，因此，从事隐形市场行为的大多数企业并不会选择从事这种“赤裸裸”的侵权行为，而是采取后一种方式，借助时间、空间等各种客观因素进行“伏击”。

市场上目前已经出现了隐性市场行为的踪迹。一些非赞助企业在其广告中打出的“为2008加油喝彩”或“唱响2008”等字样即是“搭便车”的例证。在往届奥运会中，隐性市场行为也是屡见不鲜。

在我国，法律法规是打击隐性市场行为的第一道屏障，《奥林匹克标志保护条例》、《特殊标志保护条例》、《商标法》、《反不正当竞争法》及其司法解释等规定都为反隐性市场工作提供了法律依据。

行政协调和监督也是反隐性市场“战役”成功的重要保障。北京奥组委与可能被隐性市场行为人利用的各单位、团体、运动队、运动员的行政主管机关（包括但不限于国家广电总局、国家体育总局等）共同建立了奥运立法和宣传协调机制，统一对与奥运会有关的市场开发活动进行管理。北京奥组委还实施了一项“城市运营计划”，该计划将于奥运会比赛期间以及奥运会前后的一段时间内，在工商行政管理机关的协助下，控制主办城市相关体育场馆、比赛场地上空的所有广告。并将通过签订协议的方式，控制相关体育场馆周围的广告、公交和机场路牌广告以及街道上的宣传栏，从而充分保证奥运会赞助商在该等广告地段的排他性权利。另外，北京奥组委还将监控特定时段播出的视频广告，从而禁止、限制非赞助企业发布的广告在特定时间段和特定频道的出现。