The truth behind Chinese Olympic anger

August 1, 2008

china-olympics.jpgMuch has been made of “Chinese anger” after a South Korean TV station filmed and broadcast a secret dress rehearsal of the Olympics opening ceremony. From his vantage point among various of the UK’s sports and IP lawyers, Blade would merely point out that for ‘Chinese’ anger, read, in such circumstances, ‘every Olympic Host Nation’.

The Olympics present a vast contractual nexus. The opening and closing ceremonies for the Athens Games involved over 1,000 contracts alone. That’s a lot of legal work, but one thing the lawyers are sworn to, and seek to preserve, is secrecy. Each Host Nation tries to outdo its predecessor’s opening and closing festivities, all of which are kept rigorously under wraps. When an enterprising local newspaper hired a plane and flew over one of the stadia at the Melbourne Games, to take sneak pictures of the rehearsals, an almighty fuss erupted, as would be the case at any Games where the surprise of the ceremonies seemed to have been undone.

It strikes Blade, therefore, that the talk of China’s allegedly reprehensible state secrecy laws is misplaced. We’re dealing with media rights issues and commercial confidentiality, as enforced by contract, and that’s it.

 

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Supreme Court on Twitter

February 6, 2012

Something remarkable happened today. Yes, the Supreme Court launched its Twitter feed. It even has a Twitter policy, one of caveats, disclaimers and little by way of illumination but regardless: who would have thought that the successor body to the House of Lords would stoop to engage with the world of tweets, hashtags and retweets?

We look forward to the day when court business will be conducted via Twitter. Meantime, check out this link for an excellent blog on the Supreme Court.

Not so right said Fred

February 2, 2012
fred hat

So Farewell, then, Sir Fred Goodwin.

Now you are just Fred.

Not Right Said Fred, but plain Fred.

The Forfeiture Committee did for you.

No one had heard of it before,

But Dave said it had to act, and it did.

Trouble is that no one knows what to think.

Is it ‘Alas, poor Fred‘,

Or ‘Hurray! Sir Fred is dead!’?

We don’t know.

Do you?

By A. Mob, aged 1,378 and a half.

London Goes AWOL

January 31, 2012
CNN

STOP PRESS:

Fed up with being stuck on the Thames in south-east England, London yesterday decided to move. In a dramatic gesture which augurs ill for the Olympics, the city upped sticks and relocated to East Anglia.

Lawyers were not consulted about the move, and the city’s precise motivation remains unclear. However, financiers fear that London’s decision is a sign that it wishes to downsize. Moreover, a source from London said: “We no longer want to be Britain’s seat of power. If the Scots can deregulate, why can’t we? East Anglia is a nice place where nothing happens. It’s time for a quiet life. Please respect our right to privacy.”

Elsewhere, Birmingham did not do anything, but Manchester was seen to be packing its bags. “There’s an opportunity for us,” said Manchester. “We can become London.”

East Anglia said: “We don’t mind. It’ll be refreshing to be associated with something other than fens and flatness.”

A cartologist at CNN, which broke the extraordinary news, was later fired.