Seattle Trademark Lawyer

Yours truly on KOMO-4, proving once and for all that
I’m indeed a trademark attorney. And that it hit 74 degrees today.

Seattle’s KOMO-4 News interviewed me today about the Olympic For Hire taxi company (story here).

The company uses the Olympic name and logo here in town, presumably without the U.S. Olympic Committee’s permission.

I think these types of reports are good, because they help educate the public about what’s ok and what’s not ok with trademark use.

Of course, the USOC has few friends in Seattle. With hundreds of businesses proudly calling themselves “Olympic” in honor of our majestic Olympic Mountains, the USOC did itself a disservice when it bullied local merchants into changing their names two years ago when the Games were in Vancouver, B.C., 100 miles to the north.

Bully to them.

But here’s the take-away. Generally, using another entity’s name isn’t a good idea. It may not be fatal, but it’s certainly not a step in the right direction. Using their logo in addition to their name spells problems. And it means big-time problems if you use “Olympic” in your business and you add the Olympic Rings for good measure.

I certainly don’t condemn a business that doesn’t know the rules. But the USOC probably will.

Look for a name and logo change for the cab company in the near future.