On March 12, 2025, the Japan IP High Court delivered a verdict concerning the legitimacy of Trademark Registration No. 6008759, associated with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Emblem, which is owned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Originally unveiled in 2016, the emblem was ultimately replaced prior to the games that were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and concluded without spectators. The IOC had submitted an application for the emblem’s registration on April 25, 2016, covering a wide range of goods and services. Following a thorough evaluation process, the mark was first attributed to the Tokyo Olympic Committee (TOC) and later registered by the Japan Patent Office (JPO) on December 7, 2017. By December 2021, post-Olympics, ownership reverted to the IOC. However, on June 21, 2022, a collective of Japanese legal professionals initiated a legal challenge against the emblem's validity, alleging violations of specific articles within the Japan Trademark Law. They contended that the IOC's licensing of the trademark to third parties, including the TOC and sponsors, breached the law’s provisions designed to protect trademarks registered by non-profit organizations engaged in public interest tasks. The challenge emphasized that the IOC's actions aimed to unjustifiably enrich official sponsors at the expense of others, thereby constituting bad faith. Notably, the legal framework had evolved in 2019, lifting prior restrictions on trademark licensing, which the Court recognized as a mechanism to safeguard public interest and ensure appropriate trademark utilization. Ultimately, the Court determined that even if the IOC's licensing activities were contested, they did not warrant the emblem's invalidation based on public order or morality concerns.
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