Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Is VANOC Copyright Crazy?

As the Olympics draw closer, so do the many controversies surrounding it. One more quiet issue is the question of copyrights. VANOC and the IOC have trademarked words and numbers such as games, gold, silver, sponsor, Vancouver, medals, tenth, 10th, 2010 and 21st. What? They own numbers now? I don't think I'm okay with that. I'm also not okay with their ownership of "With Glowing Hearts," the slogan for the games, taken from our national anthem.

The Copyright Act protects all original works upon creation and the Trademark Act protects any term, symbol, design, or combination for any business or organization. I think my issue is that none of these are original creations. The Nike swoop, original. McHappy, original. Medal? Silver? Sponsor? These are just words in the dictionary. And borrowing the slogan from our national anthem, well that's just lazy.

The argument, of course, is that these laws are in place to protect the profit-making opportunities of VANOC. Sure, they're the organizers, but should they be the only ones to profit from an event which will affect our entire city? After all, their ability to host the games requires the use of infrastructure paid for by Canadian citizens and businesses. What would be so wrong with other individuals and businesses also profitting financially? I realize that's a naive question, but the paranoia of the Olympic Committee (can I say that?) has also become laughable.

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