I am not a big sports fan, too many hours playing FPS and RPG computer games for that. Anyway, one sports event draws a huge crowd no matter what, the Olympics.

This year it is occurring in my home country, my home capital city, London.

Now the laws in the UK aren't too bad but sometimes get a bad press, at home and abroad, certainly at home lol, and whilst I know discussing politics is never an easy topic, I need to bring this to peoples attention purely because of the potential impact should you wish to promote or otherwise market the 2012 Olympic Games.

The Guardian newspaper has reported on this and you can read it here but basically what has happened is that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been "forcing" countries hands by stating they need to improve legal ramifications of misuse of the Olympic brand should a country wish to bid on the Games.

Now the UK already has some strong copyright and brand related laws, but they have still passed another piece of legislation which could potentially censor images and none sponsor brands who wish to promote the Games.

It has even been speculated that they could ask the likes of Facebook to remove fans photos of the games... unlikely as that seems, it wouldn't surprise me if it was tried, especially seeing this quote

' an event called the "Great Exhibition 2012" was threatened with legal action last year under the Act over its use of "2012" '

This was withdrawn, but still you get the picture.

Oh and this is criminal law, not civil, so potentially that means jail time.

How this will affect those outside the UK's jurisdiction is unclear, and probably nothing will happen, but still, if you are going to have a go at marketing something related to this profitable niche, be aware of what you are doing, as you don't want to fall afoul of this.