Olympic Committee Continues to Pester ICANN for Special Status
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
IOC to ICANN: just a friendly reminder that we’re important.
The International Olympic Committee has sent another letter to ICANN requesting that it be given “holier-than-thou” trademark rights and special protections for the launch of new top level domain names.
As you may recall, in April 2009 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sent a letter to ICANN stating that its trademarks receive special international protection, and that it was worried it would have to extend effort to protect its marks as new top level domains are rolled out. It threatened to “take action against ICANN for damages resulting to the IOC or the Olympic Movement from the implementation of the gTLD proposal.”
The IOC has followed up with multiple letters during comment periods. It just sent another letter (pdf) to ICANN, requesting a meeting to discuss special protection:
“Due to the unique nature of the Olympic trademarks which are protected around the world in many different ways, measures should be taken by ICANN to have them protected accordingly in the scheme of ICANN’s projects.”
Um, sure. Get in line, guys. Just about every Fortune 500 has trademarks “protected around the world in many different ways”. ICANN should politely decline this meeting and invite IOC to attend the next ICANN meeting in Brussels.
IOC is also apparently concerned about .sport, asking ICANN to discuss the “status of the development of the new extension .sport”.
That’s an easy request: there is no status. Applications aren’t open yet and ICANN has nothing to do with .sport and potential applicants for this TLD.
But to be fair, one of the potential applicants for .sport wants ICANN to step in to prevent competitors such as .basketball.
Further Reading:
- Olympics Threaten to Sue ICANN. Who Missed the Meeting?
- Olympics and Red Cross Push for Special Rights with New TLDs
- Olympics to ICANN: We’ll Sue You
Tags: new tlds, trademarks
THE IOC (Olympics) Is a terrible Monopoly that all should boycott as they go agaisnt the spirit of Freedom. Who runs them? The Chinese? Sorry, that would have been an insult to the Chinese. Talk about a Global Dictatorship. Respect to the Athletes!
IOC are one of the most ferocious trademark fighters in the world. Having dealt with their threats before on an advertisement that used a torch, (yes, that is right the simple usage of a torch) was violation in their eyes. I hope ICANN does not grant the special visitation request, if only to stem the tide of more “special” visits and favors from other bodies. I am concerned though because ICANN sometimes seems to be starstruck with powerful, influential organizations.
If I remember correctly, back in the mid 1990″s, no domains were allowed to be registered if it had the olympics in its domain. Also banned were george carlins 7 dirty words.
One of the biggest concerns as a result of new gTLDs has to be private back room deals and those deals leading to stricter but poorly drafted rules where innocent individuals and small companies loose their legally held property as a consequence.
This is why it is so important the economic advantages and economic concerns are articulated and fully discussed by the ICANN community before any new gTLDs are applied for.
In the US, there is a carve-out exemption for certain old marks (like the Olympic Paint people), and for businesses within a designated radius of Olympia, Washington. How one implements that on an automated basis is anyone’s guess.
Larry, I believe it was Network Solutions that had ‘olympics’ blocked. And of course they were running the show back then.
Curious why I’ve not seen the City of Los Angeles going after .losangeles. Other cities are gearing up, i.e. .berlin, .madrid, .nyc, etc.
ICANN is using IOC trademarks, and for this ICANN has only to invite it to Brucells presentation?
I think that the lawyal systems may help you better in this case…and lots of money can be earned also.