The International Olympic brand Infringement could cost Fiji of any possible medals. This was told by FASANOC vice-president finance, Jerome Kado in Suva yesterday.

FASANOC had released a statement on their concern over the illegal use of images of Team Fiji athletes, Team Fiji and also the illegal use of IOC and Rio 2016 branding and protected word marks.

Kado said the breach infringements have been spotted in the Fijian media and this could be harmful to our hardworking athletes in Rio.

“Team Fiji greatly appreciates that we need to be successful at the games however, unfortunately there are some entities that are taking advantage of the Team Fiji brand and the IOC symbols and protected words,” he said.

“This unfortunately could create problems for Team Fiji. They could either be taken out of the games or if they do win the medal they could be stripped off the medal, if this is abused.

“That would happen and FASANOC would like to raise this concern. The concern has been raised by the Olympic committee and they are monitoring this around the world including Fiji and concerns have been raised as well with them,” he said.

Kado said FASANOC as well as various senior Government officials including the Permanent Secretary of Sports have also raised their concern and would like the issue to be properly addressed.

“We request that this is adhered to because the last thing that we want is Team Fiji being disqualified simply because we have people who are illegally or inappropriately using privileged and commercial materials that they do not have the rights to.

“We at FASANOC and Team Fiji greatly appreciate the support you have done for us and we greatly ask you to please help us to ensure that we stick to the rules so that our whole team does not miss out because of this technicality.

“While we welcome all forms of support for Team Fiji, all that we are asking for is for you to follow the rules so that our team do not suffer,” he said.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Kado added: “If you may ask why we should respect the rules, what does Fiji benefit from it? Fiji benefits in a big way from this basically every year the international Olympic Committee gives a lot of funds to support our athletes.”

“Our rugby team was quite a big beneficiary of these funds, as you all know we struggled to get funds in Fiji and when it’s not near the Olympics or the Hong Kong 7s where there are hardly any sponsors, these money is then made available to the teams and their development, so it is important that we protect these rights.”

According to FASANOC individuals and companies who do not have sponsorship marketing rights granted by IOC or FASANOC, have no rights or access to using protected word marks, images and branding belonging to both the IOC and FASANOC.

These include the words: Olympic, Olympic Games, Olympiad, Olympiads, “Citius, Altius, Fortius”

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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