[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 23 (Thursday, February 6, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S834]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMBUSH MARKETING
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the commerce
committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 289.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 289) expressing the sense of the
Senate that ambush marketing adversely affects the United
States Olympic and Paralympic teams and should be
discouraged.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the Rockefeller amendment to
the resolution, which is at the desk, be agreed to; the resolution, as
amended, be agreed to; the Rockefeller amendment to the preamble, which
is at the desk, be agreed to; the Rockefeller title amendment, which is
at the desk, be agreed to; and the motions to reconsider be considered
made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 2729) was agreed to, as follows:
Strike paragraphs (1) and (2) of the resolving clause and
insert the following:
(1) official sponsor support is critical to the success of
Team USA at all international competitions; and
(2) ambush marketing adversely affects the United States
Olympic and Paralympic teams and their ability to attract and
retain corporate sponsorships.
The resolution (S. Res. 289), as amended, was agreed to.
The amendment (No. 2730) was agreed to, as follows:
In the fifth whereas clause of the preamble, strike
``assure that the United States has the best Olympic teams''
and insert ``ensure that the United States has the best
Olympic and Paralympic teams''.
In the sixth whereas clause of the preamble, strike ``in
ambush marketing as a marketing strategy, affiliating
themselves with the Olympic and Paralympic Games without
becoming sponsors of Team USA'' and insert ``in marketing
strategies that appear to affiliate themselves with the
Olympic and Paralympic Games without becoming official
sponsors of Team USA''.
In the seventh whereas clause of the preamble, strike
``ambush marketing harms the United States Olympic and
Paralympic teams, undermines sponsorship activities, and
gives ambush marketers an unfair and unethical advantage over
entities that officially sponsor and provide funding for the
elite athletes of the United States'' and insert ``any ambush
marketing in violation of the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. 1051 et
seq.) undermines sponsorship activities and creates consumer
confusion around official Olympic and Paralympic sponsors''.
In the eighth whereas clause of the preamble, strike
``efforts to prevent ambush marketing have enjoyed limited
success as the strategies used by ambush marketers continue
to multiply'' and insert ``ambush marketing impedes the goals
of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (36 U.S.C.
220501 et seq.) to fund the United States Olympic and
Paralympic teams through official sponsorships''.
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
The amendment (No. 2731) was agreed to, as follows:
Amend the title so as to read: ``Expressing the sense of
the Senate that ambush marketing adversely affects the United
States Olympic and Paralympic teams.''.
The resolution, as amended, with its preamble, as amended, with its
title as amended, reads as follows:
S. Res. 289
Whereas the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games will occur on
February 7 through February 23, 2014, and March 7 through
March 16, 2014, respectively, in Sochi, Russia;
Whereas more than 5,500 athletes from 80 nations will
compete in 7 Olympic sports and 1,350 Paralympic athletes
will compete in 5 sports;
Whereas American athletes have spent countless days,
months, and years training to earn a spot on the United
States Olympic or Paralympic teams;
Whereas the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (36
U.S.C. 220501 et seq.)--
(1) established the United States Olympic Committee as the
coordinating body for all Olympic and Paralympic athletic
activity in the United States;
(2) gave the United States Olympic Committee the exclusive
right in the United States to use the words ``Olympic'',
``Olympiad'', ``Paralympic'', and ``Paralympiad'', the emblem
of the United States Olympic Committee, and the symbols of
the International Olympic Committee and the International
Paralympic Committee; and
(3) empowered the United States Olympic Committee to
authorize sponsors that contribute to the United States
Olympic or Paralympic teams to use any trademark, symbol,
insignia, or emblem of the International Olympic Committee,
International Paralympic Committee, the Pan-American Sports
Organization, or the United States Olympic Committee;
Whereas Team USA is significantly funded by 31 sponsors who
ensure that the United States has the best Olympic and
Paralympic teams possible;
Whereas in recent years, a number of entities in the United
States have engaged in marketing strategies that appear to
affiliate themselves with the Olympic and Paralympic Games
without becoming official sponsors of Team USA;
Whereas any ambush marketing in violation of the Lanham Act
(15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.) undermines sponsorship activities
and creates consumer confusion around official Olympic and
Paralympic sponsors; and
Whereas ambush marketing impedes the goals of the Ted
Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (36 U.S.C. 220501 et
seq.) to fund the United States Olympic and Paralympic teams
through official sponsorships: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) official sponsor support is critical to the success of
Team USA at all international competitions; and
(2) ambush marketing adversely affects the United States
Olympic and Paralympic teams and their ability to attract and
retain corporate sponsorships.
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