[ SHOWGSD-L ] for those who put on the GSD Olympics

From: Diane Wright <Diwri@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ShowGSD-L <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 23:55:18 -0400
In New England area? I'm not sure of the event's actual name, but apparently 
ANY use of the word 
olympics is frowned upon by 'the' olympic committee (the ones in charge of the 
every 4 year human event).

Here's a news story that I read online at MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8942404/

Ferret Olympics forced to change name
Organizers of pet games nipped by USOC over trademark infringement

EUGENE, Ore. - After nine years of slippery, slinky competition, the Ferret 
Olympics is being forced 
to change its name — the U.S. Olympic Committee has threatened to sue.

An estimated 75 ferrets will vie for medals at the Ferret Agility Trials on 
Sunday in events 
including the tube run and the paper bag escape. Only “they are not Olympians 
anymore,” organizer 
Melanee Ellis said with a laugh.

Ellis started the Ferret Olympics in 1996, the year of the Atlanta games, as a 
fundraiser for a local 
ferret shelter.

The Ferret Olympics didn’t attract much attention until the local newspaper 
reported on it in 2004, 
Ellis said.

Within two weeks of the story, she received phone calls from the BBC in London, 
“Late Show with David 
Letterman,” “The Ellen Degeneres Show” and, eventually, the U.S. Olympic 
Committee.

Ellis, 44, said she could hardly believe the woman on the phone was serious 
about the threat of a 
lawsuit for unauthorized use of a trademark.

“I was very, very disappointed and upset about the whole thing,” she said.

U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said the committee’s legal 
department on average asks 
about 50 groups per year to stop using the name Olympics.

“No one is being singled out,” Seibel said. “But the accumulated effect of 
letting that go unchecked 
would hinder the ability we have to do what we do.”

In July, a Minnesota rock band changed its name from the Olympic Hopefuls to 
the Hopefuls but was 
allowed to keep its signature track suits. The ImprovOlympic, a comedy club in 
Chicago, also opted to 
change its name, to I.O., rather than fight a threatened trademark infringement 
lawsuit.

As for Ellis and her ferrets, she wishes they had another chance at Olympic 
gold.

“I’m sure Spaz is the most upset,” Ellis said about the top athlete in her 
ferret lineup. “He never 
did win a medal at the Olympics. He thought this would be his year.”

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[ SHOWGSD-L ] for those who put on the GSD Olympics

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