One of Australia’s major television networks, the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC), has been using a very clever way of getting around the strict rules surrounding copyright control of content for the London Olympic Games.
Australia’s ABC network posted a video on YouTube showing the method they’ve employed to skirt the rules which say that only authorized broadcasters can show Olympic content on their airwaves. The clip demonstrates how employees reenacted the winning performance by famous Australian hurdler Sally Pearson with the help of stop motion photography and a set of Legos blocks. One of the ABC employees complained about the trick in the YouTube, saying how tired they are of running still images rather than videos of the actual event.
The International Olympic Committee adopted rules in August 2011, which said that any broadcast of the games’ content “is subject to and protected by full IOC copyright.”
Those companies which have not been granted the proper rights by the IOC to televise the games are limited to a maximum of six minutes of broadcast footage per day, a paltry number given the many events taking place each day. Additional restrictions are placed on those six minutes, with unauthorized networks limited to only two minutes of Olympic content in any one program which must only be news related and not entertainment driven. Any coverage of a specific event is limited to either one third of the length of that event or 30 seconds, whichever is less. The footage also cannot be aired until at least three hours after it is first broadcast on authorized networks.
The ABC simulation tends to even little details and includes Legos representing spectators along with a reenactment of the awards ceremony. The video ends with an acerbic line from one of the broadcasters, saying that ABC was looking forward to the following day’s events “which we will also not be able to show you.”
Source: “RIM, Mistras, Monster Beverage: Intellectual Property,” by Victoria Slind-Flor, published at Businesweek.com.
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