Oregon Public Broadcasting

There are more than a thousand businesses in Washington State with the word “Olympic” in their names.  But in the age of the internet, that local geographic reference can cause problems with a certain international athletic movement.

Correspondent Tom Banse reports on a small winery accused of trademark infringement by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Olympic Cellars has sold wine from its barn at the foot of the Olympic Mountains on the north Olympic Peninsula since 1992.

So principal owner Kathy Charlton was taken aback by a demand from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The guardians of the Olympic movement have asked her to find a new name or restrict her sales to Western Washington.

Kathy Charlton: “I really do not want to change the name of the winery because if I do, I’ve lost all of the goodwill that I’ve built up in rebuilding this business, which was bankrupt when I took it over.”

The USOC has a long history of policing the Olympic name and the sponsorship value that represents.

In Eugene, the annual Ferret Olympics had to change its name to the Ferret Agility Trials.

In Seattle, a shellfish-slurping fundraiser called the Oyster Olympics became the Oyster Games.

Online:

U.S. Olympic Committee

Olympic Cellars