Intellectual Property Law

Washington High School Student Sells Inunnguaq to Olympic Travelers

By Michael Atkins

Ferndale, Wash., student Jessica Hiestand isn’t using the “O” word
in promoting her winter sports figures to Olympics-bound travelers 

Ferndale, Wash., is the last I-5 exit heading north to Canada. With all the Olympic traffic she expects to pass through her home town, high school junior Jessica Hiestand thought she could raise a little money for her school trip to Costa Rica.

So she set out to make her winter sports version of Inunnguaq, human-shaped versions of rock landmarks traditionally made by native peoples north of the border. Her creations bring to mind “Ilanaaq the Inunnguaq,” the Vancouver Olympics’ logo (depicted left).

Ms. Hiestand calls her collection “CanMans,” which includes a “CanaSkier” and a “CanaShredder” snowboarder (depicted top).

With a little help from her father — who happens to be a lawyer who practices First Amendment and intellectual property law — she has started marketing her creations without (so far) running afoul of VANOC, the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee.

“It’s crazy,” she says. “They say they own not just things like the Olympic ring logo and the Olympic name — fine — but also words like ‘winter,’ ‘gold,’ ‘silver,’ ‘bronze,’ ‘sponsor,’ ‘Vancouver,’ ‘Whistler,’ ’21st,’ ‘tenth,’ ‘medals,’ ‘games’ and ‘2010.’ I mean, how can anybody say they own the word ‘2010’?

Crazy or not, Ms. Hiestand’s Web site tip-toes around the massive territory the Canadian Olympic organizer purports to have appropriated for itself.

“I hope your CanaMan will serve as a lasting reminder of your trip to Canada at the beginning of year Twenty-Ten, where you may have witnessed men and women from around the world competing in and around lower British Columbia in a quadrennial series of seasonally-inspired sporting events and heart-stirring pageantry,” her site says.

If she doesn’t grow up to be an artist or entrepreneur,  I could see her as a trademark lawyer.

See Ms. Hiestand’s enterprising press release here.

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on February 10, 2010 (boomark / email).