Yeah but if you let every brand do the “vaguely sporty marketing” thing, then the official sponsors are basically paying for exclusivity while everyone else gets the same attention for free. That’s not a monopoly, that’s the product they bought. Also some of these examples sound pretty explicit, like using the rings and calling it TecnOlimpiadi — that’s not subtle, that’s asking for a slap.

I get the trademark angle, but 2.5 million euros total feels like the Olympics ecosystem flexing its monopoly a bit hard. There’s a difference between blatant free-riding and a supermarket doing a cheesy promo with a flame graphic. The line is probably necessary, but it’s also super easy for big rights holders to weaponize it against any vaguely sporty marketing.

Yeah, 2.5M total feels more like a cost of doing business than a real deterrent. If brands can borrow the Olympic halo and only get clipped for a few hundred grand each, some of them will absolutely roll the dice.