As the Olympic Games approach, the tension between athletes and non-sponsors with the United States Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee has ratcheted up once again.In recent weeks, the United States Olympic Committee sent letters to those who sponsor athletes but dont have any sponsorship designation with the USOC or International Olympic Committee, warning them about stealing intellectual property.Commercial entities may not post about the Trials or Games on their corporate social media accounts, reads the letter written by USOC chief marketing officer Lisa Baird. This restriction includes the use of USOCs trademarks in hashtags such as #Rio2016 or #TeamUSA.The USOC owns the trademarks to Olympic, Olympian and Go For The Gold, among many other words and phrases.The letter further stipulates that a company whose primary mission is not media-related cannot reference any Olympic results, cannot share or repost anything from the official Olympic account and cannot use any pictures taken at the Olympics.The whole thing is ridiculous, said Sally Bergesen, CEO of Oiselle, which the USOC contacted after Oiselle published pictures of athlete Kate Grace after she won the 800 meters at the trials earlier this month.Oiselle sanitized the photos by blurring images of Olympic property but decided to leave the blogs up.While the USOC argues that money from sponsors and licensees who pay for the rights allow them to support athletes to go to the Games, Bergesen says the stringent rules hurt the athletes because companies that cant support them during the Games cant afford to pay them because of lack of promotion.It costs $300,000 to send an Olympian to the Games, and for our athletes, the USOC has reimbursed them about 1 percent of that cost, Bergesen said. Is that supporting them?Baird says that athletes can support a non-sponsor during the Games and a non-sponsor can support an athlete -- they just cant mention anything about the Olympics specifically.We need to give sponsors exclusivity to our intellectual property that is protected by U.S. law, Baird said.This is the first Olympics in which the IOC has relaxed its long-standing Rule 40, in which non-sponsors and athletes cant mention their relationship for a monthlong period in and around the Games.As part of a new compromise, the IOC, in concert with the USOC, allowed companies that did not have an official relationship to run ads during the Games so long as those ads started running in March and ran continuously through the Games.Baird wouldnt say how many companies had their ads approved and decided to commit to the five-month window, but she said it was a significant number.Bergesen said that smaller companies dont have the luxury to do that, which means it doesnt benefit them nor their athletes.A company like Under Armour can do that because they know that Michael Phelps is going to be in the Games, Bergesen said. We dont know in January which one of our athletes is going to make the Games.New Balance isnt a USOC or IOC sponsor but had more than 70 of its athletes qualify for the Games.We find the IOCs Rule 40 extremely frustrating and challenging to work with as a brand which wants to celebrate the many amazing achievements of our hard-working global athletes, said New Balance spokesperson Amy Dow. It is also unfortunate that many athletes do not have the freedom or opportunity to support the brands that support them.Baird said that companies take the hardship out of context.Athletes can certainly generically say, Thank you for your support during the Games, Baird said. But a company that sells a sports drink certainly cant post something from the Games on their social media page or website. Theyre doing nothing but using the Olympics to sell their drink. Thats entirely different from what say, ESPN is doing, which is clearly defined as journalism. Wholesale Browns Jerseys . 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West Coast are tapping into the magic of the Olympics as they attempt to navigate their way through a daunting end to the home-and-away AFL season.Eagles coach Adam Simpson used the Australian womens 4x100m freestyle win at the Rio Olympics to inspire his team to victory in Sundays western derby against Fremantle.Bronte and Cate Campbell produced powerful third and fourth legs to lift Australia to gold in that relay, and West Coast were responsible for a dominant second-half display to turn a 15-point deficit into a 46-point win.The Olympics have come at a perfect time for the Eagles, who are in desperate need of some inspiration after producing patchy form for most of the season.With just three rounds remaining, West Coast sit in sixth spot with a 13-6 record.But with games against premiership hopefuls Greater Western Sydney (away), Hawthorn (home), and Adelaide (away) to come, the Eagles face an uphill battle to snare a top-four berth.Eagles defender Will Schofield has embraced the Olympic spirit, getting up at 4am on Monday to catch up on all the action.Schofield said it was refreshing when Simpson used the Olympics as inspiration before the derby, and said hee hopes therell be more to come.ddddddddddddIts great watching the Olympics, and seeing how they go about it, Schofield said.They probably put in a lot more work than we do.Theyve got one chance in four years. Were lucky, we get to back up next week.Footys an interesting game. Its a long year, and to be able to find different focus points other than the normal ones we have every week, it was a good little challenge for us.Schofield said the Eagles were working hard to address their inconsistent form.You look at Hawthorn - they play their best footy in September, Schofield said.Well be trying to do that.We probably havent been in the best form in the last couple of months, but weve won (six) out of the last (seven).So to be able to do that and get the wins is good for us, and well be working on our form.Eagles forward Josh Kennedy was the hero of Sundays derby, booting seven goals to win the Ross Glendinning medal.The haul put Kennedy six goals ahead of Sydneys Lance Franklin and Gold Coasts Tom Lynch in the race for the Coleman medal. Wholesale NFL Hoodies Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Black Jerseys NFL Jerseys From China Cheap NFL T-shirts Youth NFL Jerseys Cheap Discount NFL Jerseys ' ' '