USOC Feeling Overly Proprietary About "Olympic"
Posted June 16th, 2007 by Kurt Repanshek
Mount Olympus in Olympic National Park. NPS Photo.
The United States Olympic Committee can be a mighty uppity organization. It loves to wield its power.
These days it's focusing that power on an Olympic National Park ranger, demanding that he be careful with how he uses the world "Olympic." And it wants him to forget about trademarking his guidebook Best of the Olympic Peninsula.
USOC officials also want Jason Bausher to limit sales and marketing of his book to western Washington state.
I wonder if the organization has contacted the Park Service, too?
Comments
Tom O'Connell (not verified)
In a word..."Screw the Olympics"
They have become irrelevant and hypocritical...who cares about the olympics???
tom
Aaron Barnes (not verified)
The following is the text of an e-mail message that I have sent to Senators Murray and Cantwell and Representative Dicks, all from the state of Washington:
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I assume that by now you are aware of the AP newspaper article "Just whose Olympics are they?" by Curt Woodward, Published Sunday, Aug 12. If not, you can find it at
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003832748_olympicbattle12.html
The article documents another example of aggressive, abusive behavior on the part of the United States Olympic Committee in its overzealous "protection of its trademarks". Specifically, USOC is leaning on an individual whose greatest transgression is to publish a pamphlet entitled "Best of the Olympic Peninsula". You would think that anyone with an IQ higher than, say, my dog's, would understand that the Olympic Peninsula has nothing to do with the Olympic Games.
Clearly the USOC wants to have complete control of the use of such terms as "Olympic" and "Olympus". I resent that, being someone who lives on the Olympic Peninsula and daily sees the Olympic Mountains (weather permitting).
I pass this comment on, just in case you might be interested in doing something about the matter.
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I also sent a copy of this e-mail to the USOC (media@usoc.org, ), with the added comment: "For my part, I do not plan to contribute to the USOC in the foreseeable future. It wouldn't surprise me if a number of other residents of the Olympic Peninsula feel the same."
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