The front page of the Vancouver Sun today (Thursday, March 29, 2007) features an interesting article on the official marks registered by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Games (“VANOC”) and the Canadian Olympic Committee. The article notes that VANOC has rights to FRIEND as an official mark and could potentially bring legal proceedings if someone attempts to use it in connection with a business.  

According to VANOC, they have no intention of preventing the use of words like “friend” on their own. They are, however, concerned about ambush marketing in the lead up to the 2010 Olympic Games and intend to prevent persons who are not properly licensed from marketing wares and services that suggest a connection with the Games.

It may be up to the courts to determine whether ordinary words like “friend” can be official marks. The Vancouver Sun article references an Alberta case (Canadian Olympic Association v. Hipson) that arose in the lead up to the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics in which the court questioned the Association’s right to claim “winter” and “1988” as official marks.

What the Vancouver Sun article does not discuss is the proposed legislation now before Parliament which we discussed in an earlier blog and which, if enacted, will extend the power of VANOC even further.