Introduction

With the 2012 Olympic Games just months away, it is worth examining the issue of ambush marketing and athletes‘ rights. Since the UEFA Euro 2008 championship, the biggest sporting event ever held in Switzerland, most people know what ‚ambush marketing‘ involves. It is understood as any attempt by a company to associate itself with a high-profile sporting event through any type of marketing activity with a view to deriving a commercial benefit from such association. The marketing activity is ‚ambush‘ because the company undertaking it is not authorised to do so and it is often done at the expense of another company’s official association with the sporting event.