Milan–Cortina 2026: safeguarding the Games’ IP
Ambush marketing, broadcasting rights and the role of the in-house lawyer: everything you need to know from MAG’s exclusive one-to-one with IP head Paolo Macchi
by michela cannovale
When Italy returns to hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games on 6–22 February, it will do so in a brand-new format. Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo will be the two emblematic cities of a multi-venue event that will also involve Verona, Rho, Assago, Bormio, Livigno, Predazzo, Rasun-Anterselva and Tesero. A “polycentric” Olympics — the third Winter edition in Italy after Cortina 1956 and Turin 2006, and the fourth overall, including Rome 1960.
It is the first Games officially hosted by two cities, and one of the most complex in territorial, organisational and regulatory terms. It is precisely this complexity that explains why, in the wake of the Games being awarded in 2019, the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 was established: the Organising Committee tasked with implementing, operationally and legally, the obligations undertaken by Italy towards the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
As is often the case with major sporting events, the most visible phase is the competitions themselves — but the real contest is played out beforehand, in years of infrastructure planning, contracting and regulatory work needed to make an event of global scale possible. That complexity is also reflected in the management of intangible assets. Alongside the logistical dimension, Milano Cortina 2026 calls for equally sophisticated legal oversight, centred on the protection of intellectual property and broadcast rights within a global, hyperconnected media ecosystem.
Leading this effort for the Organising Committee is Paolo Macchi, head of intellectual property & broadcast rights at the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026. A lawyer admitted to practise in Italy as well as in New York and California, Macchi coordinates a strategy he himself describes as “multinational, multi-level and proactive”. An approach required for an event with no borders.
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