ABSTRACT
In 2007, Dennis Spurr, owner of the Fantastic Sausage Factory in Weymouth – the resort that is venue for the 2012 sailing events – devised a vinyl sign featuring the five Olympic rings rendered by Cumberland sausages. He quickly found himself threatened with legal action for infringement of copyright by LOCOG on the grounds that he was not an official sponsor of the Games. The problem blew over when he replaced the circles with squares (Slot, 2009). By application of the same principle, retailers in Vancouver who were seeking to resell tickets for the 2010 Olympics – which is permissible under British Columbian law – were threatened with legal action if they did so, because the tickets contained the copyrighted term ‘Vancouver 2010’. The same city sought to remove a mural from outside the Crying Room art gallery, which comprised a set of black Olympic rings, four of which had sad faces and one outcast sporting a smile. In this instance, the city denied that its removal was due to the artwork being critical of the Games but was justified under anti-graffiti by-laws (Maguire, 2009).
