Homeowners and landlords in Glasgow looking to cash in on the Commonwealth Games this summer have been banned from using the words "Commonwealth Games" when advertising property for rent.
According to Scottish newspaper The Herald, event organisers have told Gumtree to remove adverts which offer accommodation explicitly referring to the “Commonwealth Games” in the headline.
The clampdown is the latest sign of the 2014 Games team getting tough with people seeking to make money from the event who are not official sponsors. It comes after controversy over the way the Olympic brand was protected during London 2012.
Luke Todd, head of customer operations at Gumtree, told The Herald that it was "committed to protecting both buyers and sellers who use our site" and that any adverts which did infringe upon intellectual property or trademark rights were not permitted.
"Such advertisements are prohibited by law and by our policies. As part of our commitment to safety, we collaborate with the owners of intellectual property rights through our notice and takedown programme, which enables rights owners to alert us to content they claim infringes their intellectual property rights,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Games, told the Herald: "Glasgow 2014 has a responsibility to ensure that unauthorised or fraudulent adverts are not perceived as having any official association with the Games and will only act in cases where we feel there may be confusion, or a danger of customers being misled."
A quick check on Gumtree shows that landlords are getting round the ban by using ad headlines such as “Accommodation for Common Wealth Games”, “Glasgow Games” or “Summer Games”.
Comments
Waste of time anyway as per London Olympics non event (the lettings killings that is!!)