All versions of the Rio 2016 logo are property of Rio 2016 Bid Committee. Through its Brand Protection division, the committee seeks to avoid unauthorized use of the logos by companies unaffiliated to the bid. Such measures are required to protect official sponsors, partners, suppliers and the three levels of government which are the only licensed users. The bid is in part financially supported by commercial licensing of the Rio 2016 Brands. It might happen that companies and institutions that wish to support the bid use the Rio 2016 Brands without proper authorization, due to lack of information. The Rio 2016 Bid Committee works to spread general knowledge of brand authorship rights, so as to avoid taking legal actions later in order to preserve the rights of Rio 2106 commercial partners.