Lawyers ban Royal coin designer’s 2012 souvenir
A COIN designer has been refused permission to mint a souvenir portraying London’s skyline because his firm is not an official sponsor of the Olympic Games.
Raphael Maklouf, whose image of the Queen’s head was used on British coins from 1985 to 1997, wanted to produce a commemorative coin with ‘London’ and ‘2012’ on it as part of a series called Scenes Of London.
But when Mr Maklouf, 74, put forward plans for a coin showing how the capital’s skyline has been transformed by the Shard – Europe’s tallest building – he was told it would breach the exclusive right of official licensee Royal Mint to make coins and medals associated with London 2012.
It is the latest in a succession of rows over the trademark restrictions surrounding the event, which legal experts say are the most stringent ever.
Last month, the University of Derby was forced to take down a banner that read ‘Supporting the London Olympics’, while in September, cake decorators at the British Sugarcraft Guild were told they could not incorporate the Olympic logo in a design.
Last week, the case of Joy Tomkins, an 81-year-old from Norfolk who had embroidered a tiny ‘GB 2012’ on the T-shirt of a doll she hoped to sell at a church fete, sparked outrage.
Having heard about the rigid restrictions, Mrs Tomkins checked with trading standards officers before selling the doll. They advised her to withdraw it from the sale to avoid legal action.
Under the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Locog) has exclusive rights to any representation ‘likely to create an association in the public mind between the London Olympics and goods and services’.
This bars non-sponsors from suggesting any link with the Games. Expressions likely to be considered a breach of the rules include any two of the following: Games, Two Thousand and Twelve, 2012, and Twenty-Twelve.
The Federation of Small Businesses claimed Locog had ‘lost all sense of proportion’.