In April, more than 60,000 items of clothing and goods were confiscated from a flea market in Paris and quickly destroyed by police, according to Reuters. The police raids sought to curb the sale of counterfeit Olympic merchandise ahead of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

  • The market for and distribution of unauthorized Olympic-branded merchandise inevitably rises leading up to the once-every-four-years event as tourists from all over the world travel to the host city.
  • Increased police crackdowns have become a common response to counterfeiters, with similar raids taking place in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.

Authorities’ crackdowns often face criticism for failing to adequately distinguish between illegally counterfeit products and legal second-hand merchandise. The raids are also sometimes seen as an  unnecessary show of force on the poverty-stricken.

However, the French intellectual property protection organization UNIFAB notes that along with breaking copyright laws, illegal merchandise is far less likely to be compliant with safety regulations.

In The U.S., Olympic Merch Has More Protections Than Pro Sports

Manufacturers in America know to stay clear of incorporating the NFL’s logo – or the logo and name of any of the NFL’s 32 teams – on their products without official permission from the league. The same goes for other professional sports leagues like the NBA, WNBA, MLB, etc.

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and International Olympic Committee, however, enjoy even wider-ranging protections thanks to a nearly 50-year-old law. Olympic athletes are not paid for their participation, allowing the event to technically be considered amateur athletics. As such, it is protected by the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.

Words and phrases that are prohibited without being granted exclusive rights include:

  • “Olympic”
  • “Olympiad”
  • “United Stated Olympic Committee”
  • “Citius,  Altius, Fortius” Latin for “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” the Olympic motto.
  • “Pan American”
  • “Paralympic”
  • “Paralympiad”
  • “América, Espírito, Sport, Fraternité” The motto of the Pan American Sports Organization, representing the 41 national Olympic committees of the Americas.

The act also grants exclusive rights to symbols such as:

  • The Olympic Committee’s symbol of five interlocking rings
  • The Pan-American Sports Organization’s symbol of a torch surrounded by concentric rings

The wide range of the act has led to the USOC going as far as sending letters to businesses that already had exclusive terms in their names, such as a winery called “Olympic Cellars,” as well as Olympic Provisions and Olympic Meat Packers. Two of those cases ended with the businesses changing their names despite previously operating under the moniker for many years.

While capitalizing off the excitement of the Olympic games through strategically branded merchandise can be a timely and savvy initiative, promo companies must understand the increased risk surrounding the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.

The USOC has shown to even be protective of terms such as “Paris 2024”, “Summer Games” and “Team USA.” The organization has sent cease and desist letters for simply using such terms in online hashtags.