Discover how a single word gained super-trademark status and why your brand needs to stay clear of the rings.
Did you know the word "Olympics" and the five-colored ring logo have exalted treatment in our legal language, finding super-trademark protection by acts of Congress that have put the word and trademarks beyond the standards normally applied to all other trademarks?
The question we explore in this program revolves around the power of Congress to privatize the word “Olympics,” rendering it unutterable by anyone else in connection with any product or public event, whether for profit or to promote a cause, and regardless of the law’s normal consumer confusion standards.
This general law program looks at the statutory language, the differences between “Olympics” trademark law and the rest of the Lanham Act for every other trademark and word, and the Supreme Court case law when an organization tried to host the “Gay Olympics” and SCOTUS addressed the constitutionality of the statute’s significant monopoly grant to the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Legal Technology & Education
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Intellectual Property and Entertainment Lawyer
Peter has been named a Top Intellectual Property and Entertainment lawyer by Variety magazine and has been a legal commentator on NBC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, and national radio programs. His focus is on intellectual property and appellate litigation, and he has litigated scores of federal appeals on copyright, trademark, patent, and related business tort issues. He directs a Ninth Circuit Appellate Litigation Clinic at the UCI School of Law, where he litigates political asylum and refugee appeals. His recent book, "Burning Bridges," has been optioned and is under development by Hollywood, receiving widespread acclaim for its account of the Cold War serial trials against labor leader Harry Bridges. Peter is also a faculty member at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and a recognized “Super Lawyer.”
