May as well shut this blog down now.

With seven years to go before the 2012 London Olympics, the fantastic people in London have proposed the "2012 Olympics Bill" which bans the worlds related to the Olympics such as "Olympic", "2012", "gold", "summer" and "games" etc. The aim of the bill is to deter 'ambush marketing' from companies that haven't contributed £790m to the IOC's £2.25bn marketing revenue over the past four years. The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising says that it will prevent most companies benefiting at all from 2012. "This is an unreasonable bill and revisions are required," IPA legal director Marina Palomba told BBC Sport. "It's absolutely right that official sponsors are protected, but there has to be a balance." I seem to recall that having the games was "for the nation" so the fact that we can comment on the list of "marks" in editorial copy is our only saving grace! From their documentation on the official site they comment:

The words protected by OSPA can, however, be used in editorial news pieces without our authorisation. And, for example, businesses which have traded under an "Olympic" name for many years may also benefit from an exception to the rules which will allow them to continue to do this.

At the date of writinthesees list of Marks with restricted use are:

• The Olympic symbol
• The Paralympic symbol
• The London 2012 logo
• The words 'London 2012'
• The words 'Olympic', 'Olympiad', 'Olympian' (and their plurals)
• The words 'Paralympic', 'Paralympiad', 'Paralympian' (and their plurals)
• The Olympic motto: 'Citius Altius Fortius' /'Faster Higher Stronger'
• The Paralympic motto: 'Spirit in Motion'
• The Paralympics GB logo
• The Team GB logo
• The British Olympic Association logo
• London2012.com (and various derivatives)

For a comprehensive review of the restrictions please view their pdf.

I can fully understand the Game's authorities trying to combacounterfeitet goods, and I fully support them in that. But please don't stop people writing about the games, the organisation and how it'll effect everybody's lives here. At the end of the day every British citizen will contribute to the success of the games by being great hosts. Let us share in the responsibility and the success.