People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has launched a new “spoof” website in its stated bid to convince the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) that it should help in the campaign to end the Canadian seal hunt.

It will be interesting to see what response VANOC has to this, presumably unauthorized, use of its trademarks and copyright protected images by PETA.  Both the Copyright Act  and the Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act contain provisions permitting use of protected trademarks and works for purposes of criticism, however, in this case the criticism is of something seemingly unrelated to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

The PETA spoof website has already attracted criticism from the leader of the national Inuit organization in Canada.