Protection of the word "Olympic" vs. protection of the olympic games symbol

[Roberto Gaetano <roberto_gaetano@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Disclaimer: While I used to work for an international organization, my
contract has been resolved at time of writing and I have no commercial nor
financial interest in any international organization

 

IMHO, there is widespread confusion on the issue of the protection of the
IOC "trademark".

There is a very good reason why the Nairobi treaty protects the Olympic
*symbol* (i.e. the five "Olympic circles") but not the *word* "Olympic": the
word "Olympic" predates the creation of the Olympic Games, or Olympiads.
Pierre de Coubertin has used reference to Mount Olympus (the one in Greece,
not the one in Washington State, USA), believed to be for the ancient Greeks
the home of the Gods, as well as the reference to ancient Olympic Games,
held in ancient Greece and whose name had the same origin, to re-establish
the "Olympic spirit", where even wars were suspended while holding sport
games.

However, the word "olympic" (lowercase) has its own meaning and life that,
as I argued above, predates its use by the IOC. For instance, in Italian,
there is a commonly used expression: "una calma olimpica" ("an olympic
calm") meaning "a divine calm", a firm and quiet attitude that is related to
the internal strength that allows to remain calm, and that is ideally
related to the strength of the Gods. A scholar reference can be found in one
of the most important Italian dictionaries, the Zingarelli, who stresses the
difference between the word "olimpico" as related to Mount Olympus or
related to the Gods believed to reside there and "olimpionico" as related to
the Olympic games and the related athletes'. The paradox is that, if we
really want to reserve a name in Italian that relates to the Olympic games
this word should rather be "olimpionico", not "olimpico", which has a
different meaning. I would be inclined to believe that similar cases might
exist in other languages.

To make a long story short, I believe that there is a serious distinction to
be made between the symbol, protected by the Nairobi convention, and the
plain use of the natural language word, for which it has to be determined on
a case-by-case basis whether there is infringement or not. I hope we are not
going to do the same mistake, that older ICANNers remember, of
"bodacious-tata"..

 

Cheers,

Roberto Gaetano