Tokyo Olympics officials fume after COVID-19 magazine cover uses Games logo

Tokyo Olympics officials are incensed that their Games emblem has been used in the cover design of a local magazine that combines the logo with the novel coronavirus.

Tokyo spokesman Masa Takaya said in an online news conference on Tuesday that organisers had requested the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan "take down" the image.

Takaya did not answer a direct question if Tokyo 2020 was planning a legal challenge. He suggested negotiations were going on "in a private manner" with the Tokyo foreign journalists' club.

"It is very disappointing to see the Games emblem being distorted and associated with the novel coronavirus, which affects human life, people's lives, the economy, and our society," Takaya said.

"The design is clearly using the design of the Olympic emblem. We therefore consider it an infringement on our legally secured copyright to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic emblem."

He said Tokyo 2020 had not yet received a formal reply to its request.

The "look-alike"emblem, which had "COVID-19" written underneath, was published on the cover the the April issue of the club's magazine. It also appeared in an online edition.