Open season on Olympic Games logo
( 2003-12-03 10:50) (Shenzhen Daily)
The Beijing Olympics
organizing committee has failed to patent its official logo for the Games ¡ª an
oversight that could mean it will have to pay to use it.
The ¡°dancing Beijing¡± logo had been snapped up by someone else, Gong Baomin,
a senior official with the State Intellectual Property Office, disclosed
recently.
Because the committee registered the Games designs only as trademarks, firms
and individuals have been free to snap up the patents, including the official
Beijing Games logo.
Gong did not disclose the names of the firms trying to snap up the logo
patent. The Southern Metropolitan News quoted an unidentified source as saying
some Chinese firms and individuals had applied for the patent.
Gong said patents were awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Once it
had been confirmed that an item was not patented, no other checks were done.
Gong¡¯s office was not required to determine whether the applicants had created
what was being patented or whether someone else had registered the item as a
trademark.
Legal experts said those who had applied for the patent probably intended to
profit by making the committee buy it back or pay for using
it.
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