[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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