Intellectual Property Law

Olympic Lawsuit Statistics, Domain Name Dispute Over Chicago2016.com

By Michael Atkins

Last week a reader asked if the U.S. Olympic Committee has filed the same number of trademark lawsuits in recent years that it has filed in the past. Interesting question. The federal courts’ PACER database only goes back to 1988 (as best I can tell). During that period, the USOC has filed 39 lawsuits. Its busiest year was 2002 (Winter Games in Salt Lake City) with seven suits, followed by five in 2000 (Summer Games in Sydney), and four in 1994 (Winter Games in Lillehammer). Here’s the breakdown:

1988 - 1          1989 - 0          1990 - 2          1991 - 0          1992 - 0

1993 - 0          1994 - 4          1995 - 3          1996 - 3          1997 - 0

1998 - 0          1999 - 1          2000 - 5          2001 - 3          2002 - 7

2003 - 2          2004 - 1          2005 - 1          2006 - 0          2007 - 3

2008 - 0          2009 - 3  

So, there hasn’t been a big spike in USOC trademark lawsuits in the last few years.

On another Olympic note, the USOC is the defendant in a suit filed last year in the Northern District of Illinois, Frayne v. USOC, No. 08-5290. In it, Stephen Frayne, Jr., owner of www.Chicago2016.com, seeks a declaratory judgment that registration of his domain name does not violate the Lanham Act or the Ted Stevens Act. His Web site states: “This is NOT the official Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid Committee site” and instead is a forum for “analysis by professional economists on the topic of hosting the Olympics.” The USOC, for its part, has asserted counterclaims for trademark infringement, cybersqutting, and violation of the Ted Stevens Act. (The USOC’s Chicago bid Web site is www.Chicago2016.org.) The USOC has moved for summary judgment, which is pending before the court.

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on September 29, 2009 (boomark / email).