The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics got a lot of attention from the public. However, some Olympic-related legal knowledge also deserves your attention.

Six kinds of unauthorized use of Olympic symbols are prohibited

As stipulated in Article 4 of the Regulations on Protection of the Olympic Symbols, the rights owners of Olympic symbols shall own the exclusive rights to the Olympic symbols according to these Regulations. No one may use the Olympic symbols for commercial purposes without the permission of the rights owners of the Olympic symbols. Article 5 gives specifications on the "use for commercial purposes" which are as follows: Using the Olympic symbols on commodities, commodity package or containers, and commodity trade documents; Using the Olympic symbols in service projects; Using the Olympic symbols in advertising, commercial exhibition, profit-making performance and other commercial activities; Selling, importing or exporting commodities that contain the Olympic symbols; Manufacturing or selling the Olympic symbols; and other acts of using the Olympic symbols that may lead others to believe that there are sponsoring or other supportive relations between the rights owners of the Olympic symbols and the actor.

What are the liabilities for the unauthorized use of the Olympic symbols for commercial purposes? As stipulated in Article 12, using the Olympic symbols or signs close enough to be taken as the Olympic symbols without authorization from the rights owners is an infringement of the exclusive right of the Olympic symbols. Disputes that arise from the infringement can be settled by mediation. Otherwise, the rights owner or other interested parties may take it to the court or administration departments for market supervision, where if infringement is affirmed, orders will be given to stop the infringement immediately, confiscate and destroy the products involved, as well as the tools to manufacture the products involved. For those who earn over 50,000 yuan ($7,845) in income from the infringement, a fine of less than five times the income may also be imposed. For those who gain less than 50,000 yuan, a fine of no more than 250,000 yuan may be imposed. Those who use the Olympic symbols for fraud or other activities that constitute a crime shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law.

Sports programs shall not be disseminated without authorization

In the production process of television programs for major sports events such as the Olympics, lens skills, montage and editing techniques are widely used. The sports programs reflect the creators' personal choices and arrangements in many aspects, such as shooting angles, lens switching as well as scene and object selection. They are original and are part of audio-visual works that are protected by the Copyright Law.

Dissemination of sports programs includes the following two types: disseminating clips of the sports programs as short videos and including clips of sports programs in self-made short videos. If the aforementioned behavior is not authorized by the rights holders, it is likely to constitute copyright infringement. The latter behavior could constitute reasonable usage under certain circumstances, that is, if it meets the criteria for reasonable usage as stipulated in the Copyright Law.

During the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, online platforms shall not broadcast sports programs without authorization, shall not set up links or special columns to websites that are broadcasting sports events without authorization. When receiving notice from the rights holders, online platforms shall take timely and necessary measures including deleting, blocking and disconnecting the infringing content, and restrict certain functions of online users who repeatedly use infringing content.

Be careful of Olympic-related fraud traps

Tips from the police:

1. For lucky draw activities related to the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, it is best to check their authenticity at the official website or with authorities.

2. If an "advance payment" or "deposit" is needed, it is probably a scam. Don't be credulous.

3. Do not click on web links or pages from unknown sources. Do not disclose your ID or banking information online.

Maliciously slandering Olympic athletes is illegal

As specifically stipulated in the Civil Code, civil entities enjoy right of reputation. No organizations or individuals may infringe upon others' right of reputation by insulting or slandering. As stipulated in Article 42 of China's law on administrative penalties for public security, those who openly insult others or fabricate facts to slander others shall be detained for no more than five days or fined no more than 500 yuan. For serious cases, they shall be detained for more than five days and less than 10 days, and may also be fined no more than 500 yuan.