Argentina: Draft Bill of National Sports Law

This bill is relevant for trademark matters because it includes, for the first time in the Argentine Sports Law, the exploitation and commercial use of logos and trademarks by the Argentine Olympic Committee and the Argentine Paralympic Committee.

The bill, in Section 31, provides as follows:

•        the exploitation or use, whether commercial or not, of the logo of the five intertwined rings and of the names “Olympic Games”, “Olympics” and “Olympic Committee” and any other confusingly similar sign, is exclusively reserved to the Argentine Olympic Committee;

•        no other legal person, either public or private, may use said logos and names without the express authorization of the Argentine Olympic Committee;

•        the exploitation or use, whether commercial or not, of the logo or symbols or names “Paralympic Games”, “Paralympics” and “Paralympic Committee”, and any other similar sign, is exclusively reserved to the Argentine Paralympic Committee;

•        no other legal person, either public or private, may use said logos and names without the express authorization of the Argentine Paralympic Committee.

As a result of the above, the bill would incorporate the provisions set forth in Law No. 24,664, which protects the Olympic symbols and recognizes the International Olympic Committee as the owner, in the terms of the Trademark Law, of the Olympic logo as well as of the words “Olympic Games”; “Olympics”; “Olympic”; “Citius, Altius, Fortius”; “Faster, higher, stronger”; “Olympic Movement”; “COI”; and any other which unequivocally points to the activity carried out by the International Olympic Committee (section 2 of said law).