(ATR) The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan has withdrawn a satirical mock-up of the Tokyo 2020 logo after pressure from Tokyo Games leaders.
Tokyo 2020 organizers said the FCCJ artwork – a design combining the distinctive, spiky image of the coronavirus cell along with the blue-and-white Tokyo 2020 logo – was "insensitive" and infringed upon copyright laws.
The FCCJ mock logo, the design including COVID-19 written directly below it, was displayed on the club’s website and front page of the organization’s in-house magazine.
FCCJ president Khaldon Azhari confirmed on Thursday that the club decided to withdraw the controversial image and remove it from its website after advice that its legal defense against a potential copyright breach was "not strong".
Azhari, reading a statement from the FCCJ board of directors, expressed "sincere regret to anyone offended" and stressed the club would "continue to report the news and be the beacon for the free press activities in Japan and in Asia."
Azhari is a member of the Tokyo Olympics media commission.
Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya tells Around the Rings "the drawing has been taken out and we think that their response was appropriate."
Takaya had raised the issue with reporters on Monday, saying the emblem was "very disappointing" in addition to being an infringement of the logo copyright owned by Tokyo 2020.
"I also have to say this is insensitive to many people being affected by this damaging and painful situation," said Takaya, according to AFP.
"It is especially insensitive to athletes who are willing to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Games next year and working very hard every day for next year's Games," Takaya added.
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan was founded in 1945 to provide infrastructure and support for foreign journalists working in Post-World War II Japan. Currently, the club offers a workroom space, a library and welcomes a steady stream of local and international speakers and panels for its members.
Written by Brian Pinelli from his home in Prague
Follow Brian on Twitter - @Brian_Pinelli
For general comments or questions,click here.
Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
