London Olympics 2012 – personal director and employee liability
for advertising breaches
Amendments to the 2006 Olympics Act are in the final stages of
approval, included within these amendments is a greater onus on
individuals to prove that they should not be liable if accused of
violating strict advertising rules for the Olympics.
The Advertising and Street Trading Regulations for London 2012
aim to define zones of controlled advertising around venues to
protect the official Olympic sponsors and advertisers who have paid
close to £700 million, approximately a third of the Olympic budget,
from having their investment damaged by unofficial "ambush"
advertising. "Ambush" marketing is where a company or an individual
purports that the product/service they are selling are in some way
associated with the Olympics without providing any financial or
other support.
Given that the Regulations will be aimed at tackling "ambush"
marketing, businesses within the vicinity of Olympic venues should
not be restricted from displaying normal shop signs or window
displays, displaying the name of the retailer or types of products
being sold, similarly trading in front of shops, where the frontage
has traditionally operated as part of the same business, would be
exempt.
The Regulations will state what advertising will be regulated
and is likely to include billboards, poster adverts and new and
imaginative forms of advertising (such as give-aways and aerial
advertising) and will cover a wide range of trading types,
including trading on private land, all within a certain vicinity of
Olympic venues (no more than a few hundred metres) and for a
certain time. If the type of advertising is not specifically
exempted from the Regulations advertisers and traders will have to
apply for authorisation, even if they already have authorisation in
that area.
The major change to previous Olympics legislation is that the
Act presumes that individuals such as directors and senior
employees of companies who wrongfully advertise in the defined
controlled zones are responsible for the offence, unless they can
prove otherwise.
A director or senior employee will be able to avoid liability if
they can prove that they had no knowledge of the breach or had
taken reasonable steps to prevent it happen. It is therefore
recommended that a company at the very minimum draws up a policy
that complies with the anti-ambush elements of the legislation and
provides this to all agencies and other suppliers and companies
wishing to advertise and trade within close proximity of Olympic
venues seek the necessary authorisations.
comment
The Olympic brand is immense and naturally with the Olympics
being on home turf next year businesses will want to take advantage
of this. Businesses need to be aware of what they can and cannot do
under the Act and Regulations which cover advertising and use of
the Olympic brand.
If you or your company own or operate premises within the
vicinity of any of the Olympic venues and have a query about
licensing or intellectual property issues in relation to
advertising please do not hesitate to contact our Licensing or
Intellectual Property teams.
