

Blonde we like wins Downhill (Last name rhymes with "Bonn") - st3fan
http://www.uvexsports.com/2010/02/blonde-we-like-wins-downhill-last-name.html

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patio11
This virtually demands a reprise of that Guardian piece:

Objections we cannot relate from IP holders we cannot detail prevent us from
announcing congratulations to the downhill skier whose name we cannot utter.
At the completion of the run we cannot describe she took off the helmet we
cannot hawk and and spoke words we cannot repeat. This made us feel emotions
we cannot get into, particularly not in front of our wives.

Rock on, anonymous downhill skier.

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fr0sty
What was the original article? I can't seem to hunt it down.

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Zak
_"During the Olympics", she said with a sneer "your site can't use an
Olympian's name even if they use your gear."_

Something makes me think that wouldn't hold up in court. You can't copyright a
fact.

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cduan
You're right that you can't copyright facts, and at any rate you can't
copyright short phrases like names.

But this is a trademark or right of publicity question, not a copyright
question. Copyright deals with rights in written works. Trademark is about
rights to brand names and marks on products. Rights of publicity are about
using famous people's names and likenesses without authorization.

I don't know much about right of publicity, but as far as trademark goes at
least, there is this exception known as "nominative use," which basically
allows you to use a trademark to refer to a product, so long as it doesn't
look like you are using the name to market your own products. This is what
allows you to use a trademarked product name in a review, for example.

My guess is that, in this case, the company could have pushed back a bit on
the IOC's blanket warning. Nominative use (which, incidentally, is backed by
the First Amendment) would at least protect the right to report newsworthy
events about Olympians. But if the company's reports start to look more like
product endorsements or marketing pitches, it would become a different
question.

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Zak
Endorsements are another issue entirely, but there's something very wrong with
the legal system if there are any limitations on accurately stating that
$athlete used $product during $event.

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ugh
Now, that's how you do PR!

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chr15
For those not following the Olympics, it's Lindsey Vonn:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsey_Vonn>

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jasonlbaptiste
silly things like this make me want to be mischievous and create a site that
lists all the gold medalists winners + brands they were wearing.

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DannoHung
The IOC needs to be dismantled.

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mbreese
No, I just think there needs to be a better way of funding it... Corporate
sponsorship always comes with strings, and when you mix large multi-nationals
into the mix, things can get complex real fast.

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halostatue
This is, in many ways, very similar to what's happening with the CBC here in
Canada. CTV outbid the CBC for broadcast rights, and their contract is so
strict that the CBC can't even use the Olympic footage for news segments until
at least 24 hours has passed. It's complete and total nonsense, because in
nearly any other context, fair-use provisions would apply. Somehow, because
it's the Olympics, all rationality goes completely away.

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timmaah
I find it odd that the biggest display of corporate advertising in the events
themselves are the skis and snowboards.

No other piece of equipment gets to pimp their name and logos as much. Why?

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nopassrecover
Because skiing and snowboarding are the most important pieces of gear in the
big events that are also accessible to the general public? Skates are probably
the exception but don't tend to generate that same cool factor in general use.

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fhars
That, and the fact that they have a big, otherwise unused upper surface. Where
would you put a big honking logo on a skaters shoe?

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pedalpete
It would also be nearly impossible for the IOC to say 'cover that logo on the
base' as you would be changing the sliding characteristics of the ski or
snowboard.

