AFP BRUSSELS (AFP-Jiji) — A Belgian graphic designer will press on with a court case against the International Olympic Committee over a logo for the Tokyo 2020 Games despite the withdrawal of a key co-plaintiff, his lawyer said on Monday.

Olivier Debie filed a lawsuit in a Belgian court in August, alleging that Japanese designer Kenjiro Sano’s Olympic design was plagiarized from the logo Debie made for a theater in the Belgian city of Liege.

Late on Monday, just hours before a preliminary hearing, the theater announced it was dropping out of the case.

“The Theatre de Liege, copyright holder of its logo, has decided to waive the pending procedure in Liege against the IOC,” the theater company said in a statement.

“After examining the pleas and evidence submitted by the IOC and the definitive withdrawal of Mr. Sano’s logo, [the theater] acknowledges that the disputed emblem, regardless of any similarity with its logo, is not breaching its rights,” it said.

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