The Games and its partners
The Games run from 28 July to 8 August 2022 and promise to combine a celebration of sport involving athletes from 72 nations and territories with the unique culture of the host city. That prospect has prompted a number of major brands, such as E.On, Canon and RE:ACT, to invest in the Games within official partnerships.
In return for that investment, Games partners gain the exclusive rights to promote their brands in association with the Games. As was the case with the London 2012 Olympics and 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, UK legislation and organiser guidance underpin those rights.
The legal position
The Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act 2020 generally prohibits businesses from making representations likely to suggest to the public that there is an association between the Games and their business, or the goods or services they offer, unless authorised to do so by Games organisers. The regulations are similar to those we have seen before at major UK events, including the 2012 London Olympics and Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014.
Limited exceptions apply, including where the representations simply use or exercise intellectual property (IP) rights the business holds, or where the business has been using the representation continuously since at least 21 December 2017. Other limited ‘fair use’/journalistic-type exceptions apply too, for example where the use of a representation is in a report of a Games event or for the purpose of sharing information about the Games. Specific further exceptions also apply to online intermediaries that are mere conduits for unauthorised representations by others, or which cache or host such information unknowingly.
The Act also details a series of advertising and trading offences. Included on the banned list is unauthorised advertising or trading in the vicinity of “Games locations” during specified periods during which events are being held. Specific regulations have been drawn up that give more detail on what is prohibited and where and when the prohibitions apply.
Locations where the ban extends include, perhaps most obviously, in areas next to stadiums where Games events are being hosted, like the Alexander Stadium, University of Birmingham facilities, Edgbaston cricket ground, the Lee Valley Velopark and Cannock Chase. It also captures physical advertising or trading on pavements that run alongside events being staged on public roads, such as the marathon events and time-trial cycling, including in Birmingham city centre, Warwick and Wolverhampton. Advertising in the airspace above Games locations will also generally be an offence, unless authorised.
The regulations also reflect the increasingly innovative digital world of advertising. For instance, it will be an offence to display advertising on mobile devices used by members of the public when they are within the vicinity of Games locations during the affected periods when the restrictions apply if the “advertising is done wholly for the purpose of, or with the principal intention of, promoting a product, service or business specifically to” those people.
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