Intellectual Property Law

One More Sports Illustrated Story on the USOC's Ham-Fisted Enforcement Efforts

By Michael Atkins

Last Olympic post for a while, I promise. And I’m almost certain it’s the last time this year I’ll quote from Sports Illustrated. But here’s another gem from SI about the USOC’s ham-fisted efforts to enforce its rights to all things Olympic.

From its Dec. 5, 1994 issue:

“In its quest to bring home the gold, the U.S. Olympic Committee apparently believes it must send out several thousand letters every year implying that it will take legal action against businesses using, in their name or logo, the word Olympic or the interlocking rings, to which a 1978 federal law grants the USOC exclusive rights. This is a petty and merciless job, but the Lords of the Rings evidently feel somebody has to do it.”

Seattle doctor Dan Nelson, who at least in 1994 owned a practice called “Olympic Spinal Care,” summed up local sentiment toward the USOC’s enforcement efforts rather nicely: “‘The general provincial attitude around here is: Screw ‘em.’”

I’d say that’s still the sentiment in Seattle fifteen years later.

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on September 23, 2009 (boomark / email).