Olympic domain TM issues?

[madk]

I was just contacted by Sedo and a lawyer about a domain I have had for a few months. The domain is the name of a potential future Olympic city followed by the year..ie. atlanta1996.org.

I know the Olympic Committee really protects it's properties and I have no problem in honoring their rights. Problem is that I don't quite understand how/why this domain would infringe on any of those rights.

If I am in the wrong here I will gladly forfeit the domain as to avoid any legal issues. I just want to make sure I understand the laws. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
M.D.K.

 

[BELLC1]

That's a new one on me. Just because it is a standard format, for example,
chicago2016.org has nothing to do with the many variations of the word Olympia that the committee has trademarks on. I think someone is just covering bases regarding possible obstacles to that city getting the olympics in that year.

 

[madk]

That is exactly my point. I did some Googling to see if I could find any info on other Olympic TM issues. There are a ton which involve the word 'Olympic' or any of it's variations and also the use of the ring logo. There have also been a few cases in which the Committee has tried to tm words suchs as 'medal' 'games' and the such but failed.

Any other opinions?

 

[Gerry]

Much of this stems from the Salt Lake City winter olypmics. Once the news broke that SLC had been awarded the games, names were regged by the thousands by cyber squatters. The IOC and SLC were appalled that they could not even register their own domain name or host city name. Add to this the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of offers "to sell" them their own domain name, the International Olympic Committee sought legal action and protection...and won.

Okay, so every one want to have the right to reg whatever they hell they choose. Problem was, the issue of regging so many domains at once and offers to sell had never been seen on such a grand scale. Domainers called undue and unwanted attention to themselves.

Here are a few related articles and decisions:

http://www.sportslawnews.com/archive/Articles 2000/Olympictrademark.htm
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2002/dbiz2002-00041.html
http://www.arbforum.com/domains/decisions/180701.htm

In the case with Sedo, Sedo is a German based company and a German based company owns the TM on Olympic(s), Olympiad(s), Olympia. Sedo has in the past rejected many of my olympic related material over the years.

Not sure why the legal letter unless it is a similar case...you didn't even give the host city an opportunity to reg their own domain. Plus, if it is the .org extension, that is typically, but not always, associated with non-profit groups and there may be some issues or concerns regarding this.

 

[Theo]

The Switzerland-based Olympic committee is the keeper of some of the most safe-guarded marks in the world. However, there are exceptions from using certain marks that are older or unrelated. I believe the cut-off year is 1955. Also there are several locations or cities named after the ancient Greek city of Olympia, which is also a female first name. It's all about use.

 

[Raider]

That's a new one on me. Just because it is a standard format, for example,
chicago2016.org has nothing to do with the many variations of the word Olympia that the committee has trademarks on. I think someone is just covering bases regarding possible obstacles to that city getting the olympics in that year.

I think you can make the case that the city and year represent a well known event...but I still think its a stretch claiming rights to it.

I knew Chicago and LA were in the running for 2016, has that officially been decided yet?.

 

[Theo]

I sold Athens1896.com a couple of years ago, not sure if that'd be a problem although I *knowingly* registered it for the fact that Athens hosted the 1896 games.

However, the former owner of CitiusAltiusFortius.com had to give up the name because it's the Olympic motto.

 

[GAMEFINEST]

chicago won

 

[madk]

Chicago was chosen as the United States candidate to move on to international competition for 2016.

 

[Biggie]

I was just contacted by Sedo and a lawyer about a domain I have had for a few months. The domain is the name of a potential future Olympic city followed by the year..ie. atlanta1996.org.

I know the Olympic Committee really protects it's properties and I have no problem in honoring their rights. Problem is that I don't quite understand how/why this domain would infringe on any of those rights.

If I am in the wrong here I will gladly forfeit the domain as to avoid any legal issues. I just want to make sure I understand the laws. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
M.D.K.

any city followed by the year in which an olympic event is to be held is TM.

trust me!

 

[RazorNF]

It might interest some to read a recent article in Canadian Business magazine:

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/columnists/andy_holloway/article.jsp?content=20070326_85383_85383

The Vancouver Olympic committee is going so far as to trademark generic terms such as "winter", "gold", "2010" etc...

 

[Dave Zan]

If it's indeed from the Olympic Committee, the top line of the site appears to
clinch it. Otherwise, why else reg the domain if it's not for an unrelated thing?

 

[BELLC1]

any city followed by the year in which an olympic event is to be held is TM. trust me!

I want to disagree on that since he bought the domain (months ago, he said) before the city was even chosen to represent the US, much less a world event. I can't see how they can trademark hundreds of combinations in a .org in what they haven't even decided yet. Such a simple, city/year name could mean a lot more without any reference to olympic events.

 

[Gerry]

I want to disagree on that since he bought the domain (months ago, he said) before the city was even chosen to represent the US, much less a world event. I can't see how they can trademark hundreds of combinations in a .org in what they haven't even decided yet. Such a simple, city/year name could mean a lot more without any reference to olympic events.

I back biggadon up 100% on this matter. If it has the word Olympic(s), Olympiad(s), or Olympia in the domain name, it is automatically flagged and scrutinized. If it has a year that coincides with the year of the Olympic Games, it is a done deal. If it has a city or even the country associated with the Olympic games, it is a done deal. When I say done deal, it has infringed upon the rightful TM holder.

When Biggadon says "trust me", there must be some hard evidence in his corner.

When I say "trust me", there is hard evidence.

 

[madk]

any city followed by the year in which an olympic event is to be held is TM.

trust me!

Do you have any specific examples as to why? If so could you PM me please.

I just can't see how a specific city and a specific year could be trademarked. It seems rather generic and has nothing specific related to the actual Olympic games. Now it is used the word 'games' or 'Olympic' or any other related term I would understand.

And to clarify, the domain I have is for a host city that won't be officially decided upon until October 2, 2009.

 

[Gerry]

someone is just covering bases regarding possible obstacles to that city getting the olympics in that year.

In my opinion and knowing what I know and referencing the articles that I pointed out earlier, it is not covering "obstacles to that city getting the olympics in that year". It is removing obstables preventing and blocking any city in contention from rightfully using that domain name.

It doesn't have to seem fair. But lets say you regged Chicago2016.com. I think the task would fall upon you to prove your intentions rather than for the IOC to have to prove their case.

 

[UDLTD]

The Olympic committee even tried to shut down Olympic Medical Services in Vancouver which had been in business over 10 years. Go figure.