Trademarking words has gone way too far

[KitchenWitch]

There is a local band here in the Twin Cities called The Hopefuls. They used to be called The Olympic Hopefuls, until the Olympic committee got in touch with them, because of "licensing issues"

:grr:

[madeline_con]

1. Unless the 'commitee' owns the phrase....

The Hopefuls should continue to use the name they want!

I suspect the Olympic crew tried and succeeded with intimidation, and that they would have lost in litigation.

[northzax]

7. nope, US law gives the exclusive use of the term 'olympic'

to the US Olympic whatever it is, federation? committee? you'll remember that the Bush campaign got into similar trouble last year when the Committee sent a cease and desist letter for using the word olympic in an advertisement.

[enlightenment]

2. Went to a high school with the logo? nickname? of

the Gateway Olympians. A new school in the mid-70s, a student designed the image, including the Olympic rings in the design. About a year after the school opened, the Olympic committee got wind of it -- and threatened legal action if the logo wasn't changed.
So they've been at this for 30 years!

[northzax]

8. the way trademark law works

is that once you are aware of a transgression, you cannot let it slide, otherwise you dilute the strength of your trademark. my old roommate taught at a school in LA where parents had painted disney characters on the walls. Unfortunately, Disney got word of it, I remember talking to a Disney lawyer over drinks who basically said, "look, this sucks, we wish we'd never heard of this, then we wouldn't care about a school using the characters, but once we know, we have to stop it, otherwise it makes it harder to stop someone selling Tshirts."

[enlightenment]

12. Interesting.

Mean-spirited, but interesting. Guess it's a good thing no one who cared ever knew about the gigantic "winnie the pooh" wall mural I painted in my kid's nursery. No "bought" images, just me and my paintbrush, so nothing legally purchased -- I'm not sure they sold that stuff 25 years ago, anyway!

Thanks for the information!

[northzax]

13. they don't care about that

until you make it public, then they are forced to care. It's not the trademark holder who's meanspirited, but the law itself.

[enlightenment]

14. I understand what you're saying (I think),

although it does seem slightly disingenuous, since it is up to the trademark holder to make the complaint that brings the law into play, correct? Or is the law written in such a way to FORCE the trademark holder to prosecute a known infringement? yikes.

[northzax]

15. basically, if they ignore something that they know about

(that doesn't mean that they have to go looking for violations, just act on the ones they learn about) then they are allowing the dilution of their brand. It can actually get expensive for the holder, sending letters and using legal time with small fry.

[enlightenment]

18. ah. Now I get it.

Took long enough. Good thing I stuck to history and not law!
Thanks for your patient explanations.

[sui generis]

3. the IOC is all about licensing

revenue . . . same thing caused the "Gay Olympics" to be renamed the "Gay Games" - yet they left the "Special Olympics" alone.

They really are petty.

[JimmyJazz]

4. Games held by the Special Olympics comply with the

National Sports Governing bodies which comply with the IOC rules. That is why they are authorized to use the name "Olympic."

on edit: must get the large print version of DU - I had yet ANOTHER typo :o

[ghostsofgiants]

5. This is apt:

(Courtesy http://www.2ktshirts.com/index-shop2.tpl">2K T-Shirts)

[ET Awful]

6. Sounds "Fair and Balanced" to me

:sarcasm: :evilgrin:

[Mixxster]

9. I've been saying that for years.

Why was McDonald's allowed to trademark "Nothin' but net" a few years back? They sure didn't invent that phrase. I half-expected that 9-11 widow to be allowed to TM "Let's roll", something we said in high school back in the early 70's.

[northzax]

17. Best one I know of

Pat Riley owns "three-peat"

[terrya]

10. That's why the Gay Games are called the Gay Games.

When the idea of a competition for gay and lesbian athletes was first proposed, it was to be called the Gay Olympics. The American Olympic Committee got wind of it, and filed suit against the group organizing the event. The suit went all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, where it was ruled that it could not be called the Gay Olympics, since the IOC had a trademark on the word "Olympic". That decision was bullshit then and it's still bullshit.

[northzax]

16. not bullshit at all, I'm afraid

if the holders of the trademark banned bays from participating in the olympics, then that's be one thing, but there is no such ban, it is a competing organisation using the same name.

It'd be like Addidas calling itself the "german nike"

[zbdent]

11. Bill Clinton should trademark the phrase

about the meaning of "is" . . . He'd become a billionaire . . .

[Jamastiene]

19. Yes, it has.

I have always to start a goof off side/fun band and call it "Lake Titicaca and the Aquatic Frogs" (the frogs part refers to a frog there whose actual scientific name translates to "aquatic scrotum" because of it's appearance). I haven't done it, for a couple of reasons. One of them is that I can see international news becoming a total diplomatic incedent all because I thought that was funny and ripe for the picking (or punning) when I saw it on Discovery Channel or Animal Planet late one night years ago. I bet they'd raise hell about it if I tried to get away with it and actually got caught. The other reason was that I couldn't talk any local musicians into it, unfortunately. Where's that punk spirit when ya need it from people?

[northzax]

20. you're in luck, I think

you can't trademark place names, or species names. so thete goes your first excuse.