Abstract:
Comparing with traditional franchising, the one adopted by Olympic Games(OG)is a very special management model, whose core business is the use of intellectual property(IPR), and has been developed distinguishingly. According to “Olympic Games Host City Contract”and other legal documents,IPR of licensed merchandises of OG must be given particular attention, especially to their subject of right, duration of protection, protection means and remedies. Firstly,the IPR of licensed merchandises of OG usually only belong to the International Olympic Committee, National Olympic Committee, and Organizing Committee of Olympic Games. In addtion, sometimes social organizations and(or)individuals also own some parts of their IPR;Secondly,IPR of licensed merchandises of OG may be protected in three kinds of duration of protection, which are permanent,long-term, or short-term; Thirdly, it’s clearly different between the trademark licensing of licensed merchandises of OG and that of the OEM model, while at the same time the trademark transfer program is also very special. Finally, and interestingly, different subjects of right simultaneously protect the same IPR of licensed merchandises of OG in the different regions,which means that International Olympic Committee protect the IPR worldwide,while National Olympic Committee or Organizing Committee of Olympic Games protect its’IPR only in the host country. Consequently, between domestic and international region, the various IPR disputes must be handled by different subjects of right with different means.