An Order in Council has amended Schedule 2 of the Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act to add 38 new marks to the prohibited marks list.

As noted in an earlier post, section 3 of the Act prohibits any person from adopting or using in connection with a business, as a trademark or otherwise, any mark that resembles an Olympic or Paralympic mark.  Schedules 1 and 2 of the Act list the Olympic and Paralympic trademarks that are protected under the Act.

The additional marks added to Schedule 2 under the amendment include marks such as the Olympic mascots’ names (Miga, Mukmuk, Quatchi, and Sumi) and design marks representing pictograms for individual sports.  These marks have apparently been in use for some time but were either not in use or not known at the time the Act was originally brought into force and therefore not included in the original Schedule 2.

As noted before, the main purpose of the Act is to prevent ambush marketing.  Nonetheless, as we have reported in an earlier post regarding Lululemon’s recent clothing launch, businesses are finding creative ways to stay onside the letter of the law set out in the Act.