The International Olympics Committee (IOC) is hopeful of a bidding war for local sponsorship rights at the 2008 Games in Beijing, a top official said on Thursday.

"Interest there (China) is unprecedented both from the international and the Chinese business community," Michael Payne, director of marketing for the IOC, told Reuters in an interview.

"All the Chinese business community, and frankly any international business with (a) major stake in China, see the games as a unique platform to build and develop their position and, for Chinese companies, to develop an international brand."

Payne was on his way to China for the September 1 launch of the local sponsorship programme by the 2008 organising committee, which is looking to raise $200 million for the exclusive right to market the Olympics in their industry.

Payne said the IOC expected companies from the technology, transport, telecoms, and airline sectors to be among the list of top tier corporate sponsors but did not give any specific names.

According to Olympic officials top-level sponsors paid between $18 and $70 million each for next year's Athens Games.

In a country famous for pirated copies of everything from the latest Hollywood movies to replicas of Western-made cars, Payne said the IOC expects China's government to display an unprecedented level of copyright protection during the Games.

"I think China knows it doesn't have a track record of protection, they know they have to respect the trademark issues," Payne said.

"They are probably going to apply more protection to protecting the Olympic rights because of the importance of the statement that means to them," he said.

"But its not going to be easy. There's a lot of work to be done."