TOKYO – A drawing that uses the Tokyo Olympic logo and combines it with features of the the COVID-19 virus was being removed on Thursday from the website of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
Action to pull the drawing came after the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee demanded the withdrawal and claimed copyright infringement.
Club President Khaldon Azhari said the club’s lawyers agreed the drawing had likely infringed Japan’s tight copyright laws. He said the move would not limit the club’s freedom or expression, nor its ability in the future to use parody or satire.
He also expressed “sincere regret to anyone who may have been offended on all sides of this issue.” “In the FCCJ’s 75-year history, it has always stood as a beacon