Beijing fails to qualify in race to patent the Games logo

The Beijing Olympics organising committee has failed to patent its designs and logos for the Games - an oversight that may mean it will have to pay to use them.

Because the committee registered the designs only as trademarks, firms and individuals on the mainland have been free to snap up the patents, including the official 'dancing Beijing' Games logo.

Unlike in the west, where patents apply to inventions with practical applications, on the mainland logos and designs can be patented.

Gu Baidi, a Beijing-based expert on intellectual property rights (IPR) law, said the government's IPR office was not required to determine whether applicants had created what was being patented.

'Nor is it required to check whether the item has been registered by someone else as a trademark,' he said.

IPR official Gong Baomin confirmed that his office had received applications from a number of companies and individuals, and that some patents had been granted. But he would not confirm if the patent for 'dancing Beijing' had been handed out. 'But I can tell you even now the Olympic organising committee in Beijing hasn't made any move to apply for patents, even for its own official logo,' he said.

Mr Gong said patents were awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Once it had been confirmed that an item was not patented, no other checks were done.