Posted on 08/26/2004 8:13:09 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
The Bush campaign insists that it is on very firm legal ground in their depiction of the olympics in their ad, reports ABC News Ann Compton.
When the olympics are over, the campaign will take the ad down, as scheduled.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
It is the entire basis of the story. The IOC and, within the US, the USOC own the rights to the use of the phrases "Olympic Games" and "Olympics" and "Olympiad" - which is why just about every four years you see stories about a crackdown on unauthorized merchandise and the use of the name to promote this business or that one. The entire basis for the request to pull the ad is that the campaign does not have authorization to use the name or depictions of the Games.
Well if it's media spin, let's have the Iraqi press interview these guys, on the record, video taped, and play it for us. Because the tide turned on these guys when we heard that and I don't think many Americans wanted them to win after that...and they didn't.
You haven't seen the ads, have you.
I guess the committee will just have to sign up a couple of trial lawyers and sue Bush over copyright--or accept payment for "privileges"?
Have you seen the ad?
http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/423569|top|08-26-2004::08:46|reuters.html
"The ad has angered Olympic officials because they feel it hijacks the Olympic brand -- a registered trademark -- even though it does not display the Games logo"
Yes, I have.
The IOC said no official request had been made for the use of the reference to the Games. "We own the rights to the Olympic name and nobody asked us," Gerhard Heiberg, head of the International Olympic Committee's Marketing Commission had said on Wednesday.
This is nothing but political posturing by the Kerry-loving US Olympic Committee.
To hell with them. The games are over in three days anyway.
I believe this is the USOC, not the IOC.
Here is a list of the USCO Board of Directors, as found on this site:
http://www.usoc.org/11937_19359.htm
Peter Ueberroth named USOC Board Chair
By usolympicteam.com // June 14, 2004
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – One of the most recognized and respected leaders in the Olympic movement, American business and the world of sport was introduced today as Chair of the new United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Board of Directors.
Peter Ueberroth (Laguna Beach, Calif.), who served as President of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) for the landmark 1984 Olympic Games, will Chair the USOC Board of Directors.
Ueberroth, 66, developed the financial and operational blueprint upon which the Olympic movement continues to flourish two decades after the Los Angeles Games. Under his leadership and management, the first privately-financed Games generated a surplus of $238 million that continues to support youth and sports programs throughout the United States. Just as importantly, the Los Angeles Games rekindled the Olympic spirit and helped further the Olympic ideals in the United States and beyond.
Faced with the prospect of an Olympic boycott in May 1984 by the former Soviet Union, East Germany and other Soviet-bloc nations, Ueberroth convinced China and Romania to participate in the Los Angeles Games, and a total of 140 nations entered teams, creating a major success which paved the way for the gathering of the Olympic family in Seoul in 1988. It ushered in an era of unprecedented prosperity and interest in hosting the Games by scores of cities around the world, which remains strong today.
The USOC’s share of the surplus, some $143 million, helped create the U.S. Olympic Foundation, a watershed of additional financial support for American athletes which still exists, and each USOC National Governing Body received $1.3 million for its benefit. The USOC had guaranteed some $25 million against a shortfall from the 1984 Games and in return was awarded a 40-percent share of the eventual surplus, along with a 20- percent share that went to the NGBs.
Ueberroth was honored as the 1984 Man of the Year by both Time Magazine and The Sporting News, and is a recipient of the prestigious Olympic Order from the International Olympic Committee.
He is a strong supporter and advocate for the bid by New York City to win the honor of hosting the 2012 Olympic Games, and recently appeared in New York to speak on behalf of NYC2012 and its efforts.
Following the Los Angeles Games, Ueberroth went on to serve as Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1984-89. Today, he serves as Managing Director of Contrarian Group, Inc., an investment and management company based in Newport Beach, Calif. He is also Owner and Co-Chairman of the Pebble Beach Company, Co-Chairman of the Board of Ambassadors International, and a member of the Board of Directors of The Coca-Cola Company and Hilton Hotels Corporation.
Ueberroth replaces Bill Martin (Ann Arbor, Mich.), who has served as Acting President of the USOC since February 2003 and led the organization through its historic governance transition.
“I am honored to once again have the opportunity to serve a movement and a cause that makes such an important difference in the lives of so many,” Ueberroth said. “In accepting this assignment, I want to thank Bill Martin and the members of the outgoing USOC Board of Directors for their dedication and commitment to the Olympic movement. We look forward to their continued contributions.
“The outgoing Board wanted a new day for the USOC, and indeed this is a new day,” Ueberroth added.
Joining Ueberroth on the 11-person USOC Board of Directors, which is seated and assumes its duties beginning today under the organization’s new bylaws, are:
Bob Ctvrtlik, Newport Beach, Calif.
· U.S. member of the International Olympic Committee
· President, Green Street Properties LLC
Erroll Davis, Madison, Wis.
· Independent Director
· Chairman and CEO, Alliant Energy
Anita L. DeFrantz, Los Angeles, Calif.
· U.S. member of the International Olympic Committee
· President, Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles
Jim Easton, Van Nuys, Calif.
· U.S. member of the International Olympic Committee
· Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Easton Incorporated
Jair Lynch, Washington, D.C.
· Nominated by the Athletes’ Advisory Council
· Founder, The Jair Lynch Companies
Mary McCagg, Cambridge, Mass.
· Nominated by the Athletes’ Advisory Council
· Assistant Publishing Manager, Candlewick Press
Jim McCarthy, Chicago, Ill.
· Nominated by the National Governing Body Council
· Attorney-at-Law, private practice
Mike Plant, Peachtree City, Ga.
· Nominated by the National Governing Body Council
· Executive Vice President of Business Operations, Atlanta Braves
Dr. Harold Shapiro, Princeton, N.J.
· Independent Director
· President Emeritus and Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University
Stephanie Streeter, Neenah, Wis.
· Independent Director
· Chairman, President and CEO, Banta Corporation
That's a trademark, not a copyright. A trademark can only be infringed if the alleged infringment is meant to confuse or mislead consumers.
Sink, if these guys didn't come along every four years and send out legal threats to folks like the "Olympic Car Wash" and "Olympic Pizza" and hotels offering their "Olympic Weekend Package", then you might be able to call it "political posturing." But the fact of the matter is that they do this all the time, to everyone they can find using their name. Why wouldn't it be "political posturing" if they did it to everyone else but DIDN'T say anything to the campaign?
And your background in intellectual property law is what, exactly?
Better run and prostrate yourself in that post there were two uses of the world "Olympic."
In reality there is no exclusivity given that prevents use of the words or phrases claimed. This is just more RAT whining.
The olympic committee folks have been the most corrupt bunch of goons in recent history, outside the corrupt goons at the UN of course.
If the Bush add said he is the "Olympic President" then you would have a point. That is not what the add is doing. It is reporting a fact about the Olympic games. Does every news organization have to get permission to use the word "Olympic" when reporting a news story about the games?
The committee is upset that there are so many people demanding tickets to all the events that the place is being overrun with patrons and they want no further mention of the Olympics in the media.
You are using the word "olympics" right now. Are you infringing on the copyright. Of course not.
The word "olympics" is in the dictionary and has existed for some time. To say that one sign of an improved situation in Afghan and Iraq is their participation in the "olympics" is not to infringe on anyone's copyright/trademark.
It is a statement of fact.
Similar to saying, "the plane flew over the Rose Bowl Parade."
I don't think the Comittee has much of a case - the term 'Olympics' is pretty much in the public domain.
My guess is that 99% of the media is a clone of Jayson Blair.
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