Rules aimed at protecting Olympics intellectual property will prevent Japanese athletes' sponsors from publicly viewing those athletes' events at the Pyeongchang Olympics, an informed source said Saturday.

Japanese Olympic Committee regulations have already prevented sponsors from publicizing sendoff events for athletes bound for the Pyeongchang games, which start Friday. And those same restrictions will be applied to public viewings, which could be a huge headache when Tokyo hosts the next Olympics in 2020.

The rules have been criticized as being excessive by athletes' sponsors, and JOC officials are considering how to possibly strike a balance between the desires of athletes' affiliated organizations and the rights of official Olympic sponsors.

According to the JOC, municipalities are allowed to stage public viewings provided they obtain permission from the broadcast rights holder. But companies and schools cannot be permitted to do the same as it might lead to advertising of a commercial nature.

As a result, snowboarder Yuto Totsuka's sponsor will not have a public viewing, and his events will instead be shown privately at his high school. Likewise, speed skate sprinter Joji Kato's club in Tokyo's Adachi Ward has asked the ward to air a public viewing of his races.

Official Olympic sponsors shell out huge amounts of money to make use of the Olympics in their advertising and branding. Clubs, schools or corporations may train and sponsor competitors, but those bodies cannot even publicize their athletes' being named to Olympic teams or their results in Olympic competition.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics officials believe that if these same rules are in place two years from now, it will become a serious problem.

"I don't think if it continues this way it will be good at all," one senior JOC official said.

The rules will be reviewed after the Pyeongchang Olympics are over.