Here's another example of what's wrong with IP law. There's a company, UVEX, who makes good ski gear. Lindsay Vonn was wearing a pair of their goggles when she won a gold medal a couple of days ago. They posted a simple congratulations to her on their website. The IOC sent them a take down notice saying that they could not use the names of Olympians or mention Olympic events on the website without paying first, because that was part of the IOC's intellectual property. Bogus. Anyway, UVEX responded their website with the following:
Blonde we like wins Downhill (Last name rhymes with "Bonn")
There once was a lawyer from the IOC,
who called us to protect "intellectual property."
"During the Olympics", she said with a sneer
"your site can't use an Olympian's name even if they use your gear."
"No pictures, no video, no blog posts can be used..."
Even if they are old? "No!", she enthused.
While Olympians chase gold the IOC pursues green.
Cough up millions, or your logo cannot be seen.
Except there it is, on top of countless heads!
Tax free endorsements the IOC dreads.
And so it is with a wink and a nudge
that we would like to congratulate a skier whose name we must fudge.
Her hair is long and blonde
Last name rhymes with the German city of Bonn.
Congratulations Women's Downhill winner --
from all of us here at UVEX (no longer an IOC sinner).
Source: http://www.uvexsports.com/2010/02/blonde-we-like-wins-downhill-last-name.html
2 comments:
UVEX is my new favourite company of the week! It is so good to see a company snub their nose (and lawyers) at something so stupid. To the IOCs dismay, this just got more press because they made an issue about it. Way to go dumbasses! Great post Jon.
I am loving everything about that company right now :)
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