The IOC is ridiculous, but they’re not that ridiculous.
The original document (linked to in the article) is for news broadcasters that don’t hold exclusive broadcast rights for some country. Basically, it’s outlining to dos and don’ts of how you’re allowed to report on the Olympics: the goal is keep bodies that pay to air the games in some countries (often on a long delay) from getting scooped by a news broadcaster who didn’t pay for that right. (The IOC can’t control reporting of the event, but it can control the filming and replay of it.)
So if your news agency sent you to the Olympics to report, you can’t post vines (or GIFs, or WebMs, or whatever). If you’re a guy on the internet getting the footage the same time as anyone else, only the usual copyright (and for we countries that believe in it, fair use) rules apply.
… having retired to his quiet, private life in Slovenia, Vinko Bogataj was unaware of his celebrity, and so was surprised to be asked to attend the 20th anniversary celebration for Wide World of Sports in 1981. Athletes such as Muhammad Ali, asked him for his autograph.
Today, Bogataj still lives in his home town of Lesce, Slovenia. He is married and has two daughters. In his spare time, he enjoys woodcarving and painting.
Some are. Depends on the sport. The US Olympic basketball team is hardly a ragtag band of orthodontists from Tampa.
I don’t mind athletes getting paid. I’m just not sure that the government should be doing it, in this specific context, especially if the IOC doesn’t.
I mean if the government (and I’m really only addressing the US context here) is going to have a minuscule arts endowment, I can’t rightly say that it shouldn’t ever pay for athletic achievement. But as it stands local and state governments throw a ton of money into athletics in various forms. I don’t see why we should effectively subsidize the IOC just because they’re not directly paying athletes. I’m just not seeing why it’s worth our while, or why it’s our responsibility. Let NBC give them money. They’re making money off them.
If you are a news outlet then footage from a major sporting event would very quickly be protected under fair use. I also don’t think the IOC is allowed to tell news outlets how to use their right to fair use.
