London Warns Olympics Fans: Don't Post Pics

Olympics protected by stringent branding laws
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 22, 2012 2:30 PM CDT
London Warns Olympics Fans: Don't Post Pics
2012 Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls Kayla Harrison and Myles Porter pose for a photo with fans on April 17, 2012 at the NBC Experience Store in New York City.   (Getty Images)

The Olympics are headed to London this summer, but visitors and athletes alike better beware of what they post online, reports Mashable. London has passed legislation ahead of the games to penalize people who violate the games' official branding. Legally speaking, this would include:

  • Athletes posting media of themselves with products that are not Olympics sponsors
  • Fans uploading their own photos or video of the games
  • Businesses attracting customers with official Olympics nomenclature, like "2012 Games"

Realistically, authorities won't have time to skim through everyone's social media and round up violators, but one legal expert tells the Guardian that penalties aren't out of the question: "On a very literal reading of the terms and conditions, there’s certainly an argument that the IOC could run that you wouldn’t be able to post pictures to Facebook. … It would appear that if you or I attended an event, we could only share our photos with our aunties around the kitchen table." (More Olympics stories.)

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