Olympic organisers win 2032 trademark battle with local council

Brisbane’s Olympic Games organising committee faced an unexpected challenge in their bid to protect Games branding when a local council beat them to the trademark for “Logan 2032” by just 13 days, before ultimately pulling out of the race.

The Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee and Logan City Council both applied to IP Australia to claim variations of “Logan 2032” as a trademark earlier this year.

Logan 2032 is one of 14 location-based trademarks the organising committee is trying to protect, along with others such as Cairns 2032, Toowoomba 2032 and Rockhampton 2032 – all locations where Olympic and Paralympic competition is to be held. Brisbane 2032 was granted protection in January 2023.

The council, meanwhile, sought to trademark a nondescript “LOGAN2032” logo, in the same font as its main corporate branding.

The council’s application was made on April 29, with the organising committee’s application 13 days later on May 12 – an application IP Australia examiner Lucy Raftery cited in her initial rejection of the organising committee’s request.

“I have considered the differences between the trade marks, this being the lack of space between Logan and 2032 in the earlier trade mark. These differences, however, in the context of the goods and services claimed, are not sufficient to prevent confusion in the marketplace,” Raftery wrote in IP Australia’s June 17 letter to Allens Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys, who were representing Brisbane 2032.

“As such, consumers are likely to assume that the goods and services provided under your trade mark and the earlier trade marks come from the same, or related, trade source.”

Losing that administrative race had the potential to derail the organising committee’s plans, but a Logan City Council spokeswoman confirmed the municipality would withdraw its bid.

“Council initially lodged an application earlier this year to safeguard the term for potential future promotional use, and to help position the city’s interests in the lead-up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” she said.

“At the time of the application, council was not aware that the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee intended to trademark the names of all partnering cities.

“Council will not contest the committee’s application and fully supports its efforts to trademark the term ‘Logan 2032’ as part of the broader Games branding strategy.”

A Brisbane 2032 spokeswoman said the organising committee appreciated Logan’s “collaborative approach” in safeguarding and protecting the Games’ brand and commercial rights.

“Games Delivery Partners like councils will play an important role in the promotion and protection of the brand leading to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” she said.

“The Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee and Logan City Council have worked together since lodging separate applications, and we have found a joint solution.”

University of Queensland trademark expert Professor John Swinson, an arbitrator for the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva, said brand protection was vital for the 2032 Games.

“It’s a good thing that we’ve got the Olympic committee and the council both thinking about this because they’re trying to protect the Games and protect the public from people coming in and doing bad things,” he said.

“Games organisers recover some of the costs by selling merchandise, advertising and sponsorships, so you don’t want people doing merchandise or advertising that pretends that they’re associated with the Olympics when they’re not.”

But the organising committee’s attempt to trademark Logan 2032 still had one hurdle to overcome – Raftery informed it the combination of a place name and a year could be problematic as “other traders are likely to need to use it in relation to their goods and/or services in the normal course of trade”.

Brisbane 2032 has until September 17 to argue its case with IP Australia, but Swinson said that issue was “relatively easy” to overcome.

“You can get trademarks for places – that’s not an issue. Bundaberg Rum, for example, is rum from Bundaberg, but if you’re getting Bundaberg Rum, you don’t want just any rum from Bundaberg, you want that particular rum,” he said.

“You can look at American Airlines as airlines from America. You can get trademarks that cover place names. That’s not a problem if [the trademark is] capable of distinguishing for goods.”

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