TOKYO • A satirical mock-up depicting the Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo as the coronavirus has been pulled after Games organisers branded it "insensitive" and said it infringed copyright.

The design combines the distinctive, spiky image of the Covid-19 cell with the blue-and-white Tokyo 2020 logo, and appeared on the front page of an in-house magazine published by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ).

The Olympics have been postponed until next July because of the coronavirus, which has halted sport worldwide.

FCCJ president Khaldon Azhari said yesterday the club had decided to withdraw the image and remove it from its website after advice that its legal defence against a potential copyright breach was "not strong".

"More importantly, we are in this coronavirus crisis together and clearly, the cover offended some people in our host country," said Azhari, voicing "sincere regret".

Tokyo 2020 chief Toshiro Muto hailed the move, telling reporters: "We believe their response was appropriate and this is what we were hoping for as an outcome."

Tokyo 2020 chief spokesman Masa Takaya blasted the emblem as "very disappointing".

This is not the first time Tokyo 2020 has become embroiled in a dispute over its logo. It was forced to scrap its original emblem after plagiarism claims from a Belgian designer, who said it was "virtually identical" to his logo for a theatre in Liege.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE