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This Act may be cited as the Olympic Insignia Protection Act 1987.
The following is a simplified outline of this Act:
• Chapter 2 of this Act protects the olympic insignia by:
making the AOC the owner of copyright in the olympic symbol; and
making the AOC the owner of certain olympic designs; and
providing that the use of the olympic motto, the olympic symbol and certain other olympic images is to be taken to be contrary to law in certain circumstances.
• Chapter 3 of this Act prohibits the commercial use of certain olympic expressions unless the user holds a licence granted by the AOC.
In this Chapter, unless the contrary intention appears:
AOC or Australian Olympic Committee means the Australian Olympic Committee Incorporated, being an association incorporated on 24 April 1985 under the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 of Victoria.
Australia, when used in a geographical sense, includes the external Territories.
Australian Consumer Law means Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 as applied under Subdivision A of Division 2 of Part XI of that Act.
charge means a charge created in any way and includes a mortgage and an agreement to give or execute a charge or mortgage, whether upon demand or otherwise.
corresponding design, in relation to an artistic work, means a design that, when applied to an article, results in a reproduction of that work.
design of the olympic symbol means the design that, when applied to any article, results in a reproduction of the olympic symbol.
Federal Court means the Federal Court of Australia.
IOC or International Olympic Committee means the organisation created by the Congress of Paris on 23 June 1894, being the organisation entrusted with the control and development of the modern Olympic Games.
monopoly, in relation to a protected design, means the exclusive right to apply the design to any article to which the design is capable of being applied.
olympic artistic work means:
a prescribed olympic torch and flame; or
an artistic work that incorporates either but not both of the following:
the olympic symbol;
a prescribed olympic torch and flame.
olympic motto means:
the motto expressed in Latin as citius, altius, fortius; and
the motto expressed in English as faster, higher, stronger.
olympic symbol means the symbol an outline of which is set out in the Schedule.
prescribed olympic torch and flame means an artistic work prescribed under section 2A.
protected design means each of the following:
the design of the olympic symbol;
a registered olympic design;
a registered torch and flame design.
protected trade mark means a trade mark that contains, or consists of, any of the following signs or a sign so nearly resembling any of those signs as to be likely to be taken for that sign:
the olympic motto;
the olympic symbol;
if an artistic work of an olympic torch and flame is prescribed for the purposes of section 2A—the artistic work;
if the design in relation to an artistic work is registered under this Act—the artistic work.
protection period means:
in relation to a registered olympic design—the period of 12 years starting on the day the design was registered, as extended or reduced under section 11; or
in relation to a registered torch and flame design for a particular Summer or Winter Olympic Games—the period starting:
on the 1 January that is at least 3 years but less than 4 years before the opening of those Olympic Games; or
when the design is registered;
whichever is later, and ending on 31 December next after the closing of those Olympic Games, as reduced under section 11A.
registered design means a design registered under section 10.
registered olympic design means a design registered under this Act in relation to an artistic work that incorporates the olympic symbol.
registered torch and flame design means a design registered under this Act in relation to an artistic work that is or incorporates a prescribed olympic torch and flame.
Registrar means the Registrar of Designs holding office under the Designs Act 2003.
reproduction, in relation to an artistic work, has the same meaning as in the Copyright Act 1968.
sign has the same meaning as in the Trade Marks Act 1995.
trade mark has the same meaning as in the Trade Marks Act 1995.
Unless the contrary intention appears, an expression used in this Chapter and the Designs Act 2003 has the same meaning in this Chapter as in the Designs Act 2003.
The regulations may prescribe a single artistic work of an olympic torch and flame for a particular Summer Olympic Games or for a particular Winter Olympic Games. The artistic work must not incorporate the olympic symbol.
The regulations must not prescribe an artistic work unless:
copyright under the Copyright Act 1968 subsists in the artistic work; and
the AOC is the owner of the copyright in the artistic work.
The Governor‑General may not make a regulation prescribing an artistic work for a particular Olympic Games before the 1 July that is at least 31/2 years but less than 41/2 years before the opening of those Olympic Games (that is, 6 months before the earliest date on which the protection period for a registered torch and flame design for those Olympic Games could start).
Subject to Part VII of the Copyright Act 1968, this Chapter binds the Crown in right of the Commonwealth, of each of the States and of the Northern Territory.
This Chapter extends to the external Territories.
For the purposes of the Copyright Act 1968:
the olympic symbol shall be taken to be an original artistic work in which copyright subsists; and
the AOC shall be taken to be the owner of the copyright in the olympic symbol.
Notwithstanding anything in the Copyright Act 1968:
copyright in the olympic symbol subsists indefinitely; and
a fair dealing with the olympic symbol does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the olympic symbol if it is for the purpose of, or is associated with, the giving of information (including the reporting of news):
in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical; or
by means of broadcasting or in a cinematograph film.
An expression used in this section and in the Copyright Act 1968 has the same meaning in this section as it has in that Act.
The AOC does not have the capacity to bring an action or proceeding under the law of a foreign country for an infringement of copyright in the olympic symbol.
The AOC is taken to be the owner of:
the design of the olympic symbol; and
any registered olympic design that was registered under this Act immediately before the commencement of the Olympic Insignia Protection Amendment Act 1994.
The AOC has a monopoly in a protected design.
The rights of the AOC with respect to a protected design are personal property and, subject to this Chapter, the laws applicable to ownership of personal property apply in relation to the monopoly in the design as they apply in relation to other choses in action.
A person infringes the monopoly in a protected design if:
in the case of the design of the olympic symbol—at any time; or
in the case of a registered olympic design or registered torch and flame design—during the protection period in relation to that design;
the person, without the licence of the AOC:
applies the design or any fraudulent or obvious imitation of it to any article;
imports into Australia for sale, or for use for the purposes of any trade or business, any article to which the design or any fraudulent or obvious imitation of it has been applied, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, outside Australia; or
sells, or offers or keeps for sale, or hires, or offers or keeps for hire:
any article to which the design or any fraudulent or obvious imitation of it has been applied in infringement of the monopoly in the design; or
any article:
to which the design or any fraudulent or obvious imitation of it has been applied; and
that has been imported into Australia in infringement of the monopoly in the design.
A person does not infringe the monopoly in a protected design by virtue of the application of paragraph (1)(c) or subparagraph (1)(e)(i) in relation to an article if, at the time when the person did the act that, but for this subsection, would have constituted the infringement, the person did not intend that the article would be used in Australia at a later time by any person.
Subject to subsection (4), if a person infringes the monopoly in a protected design:
the AOC; or
a holder of a licence in relation to the design whose interests have been, are or would be affected by the infringement;
may bring an action or proceeding against the person in the Federal Court for infringement of the monopoly in the design.
An action or proceeding for infringement of the monopoly in a protected design shall not be instituted by the holder of a licence in relation to the design without the consent of the AOC.
Where:
a person, being the holder of a licence in relation to a protected design, applies, by notice in writing served on the AOC, for the consent of the AOC under subsection (4) to the institution by the person of an action or proceeding for infringement of the monopoly in the design; and
the AOC does not grant or refuse that consent before the end of the period of 7 days after the day on which the notice was served;
the AOC shall, at the end of that period, be deemed to have granted that consent under subsection (4).
Consent under subsection (4) to the institution of an action or proceeding shall not be unreasonably refused.
Subsection (4) does not affect the granting of an interlocutory injunction on the application of a holder of a licence in relation to a protected design.
For the purposes of this section, a design shall not be taken not to be a fraudulent or obvious imitation of a registered olympic design by reason only that the first‑mentioned design does not incorporate the design of the olympic symbol.
For the purposes of this section, a design may be a fraudulent or obvious imitation of a registered torch and flame design in relation to an artistic work that incorporates a prescribed torch and flame even though the first‑mentioned design relates to an artistic work that does not include the prescribed olympic torch and flame.
The relief that the Federal Court may grant in an action or proceeding for the infringement of the monopoly in a protected design includes an injunction (subject to such terms, if any, as the Court thinks fit) and, at the option of the plaintiff, either damages or an account of profits.
The remedies provided under this Chapter in relation to protected designs are in addition to the remedies provided by the Australian Consumer Law in relation to engaging in conduct that is misleading or deceptive (see section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law) and, in particular, in relation to representations:
that goods or services have sponsorship or approval that they do not have (see paragraph 29(1)(g) of the Australian Consumer Law); or
that a corporation as defined in that Act has a sponsorship, approval or affiliation that it does not have (see paragraph 29(1)(h) of the Australian Consumer Law).
The references in subsection (1) to particular provisions of the Australian Consumer Law do not imply that other provisions of the Australian Consumer Law do not apply in relation to conduct that is also covered by this Chapter.