After Oiselle, sponsor of runner Kate Grace, posted photos congratulating the athlete on qualifying for the Olympics, they received word from the U.S. Olympic Committee telling them to remove the images.
The ordeal began when the image shown below and others were posted on Oiselle's Instagram account. Soon after, Sally Bergesen, the company's CEO, received an email from the U.S. Olympic Committee mentioning that the posts were in violation of the USOC's trademark and that all images featuring athletes sponsored by the company mentioning the Olympics be removed. Specifically, Bergesen alleges that the USOC sees such posts featuring Olympic text and branding as akin to advertising using their trademarks.
On the other hand, Bergesen contends that the company is disseminating updates on one of their sponsored athletes, and the association with the Olympics is incidental to that athlete's career track. As such, the images remain up. Nonetheless, she has said that further images would blur out and omit any references to the Olympics, and the company would direct followers to posts by individuals, since trademark guidelines are only applicable to business entities.
Personally, while I respect the rights of trademarks and their usage, I feel that in this case, it truly is incidental. Oiselle has been sponsoring Grace for five years, and obviously, the Olympics are the pinnacle of any such athlete's career, making it strange to expect them not to be addressed when reporting on that athlete. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments!
[via Fittish]
Always sticky when dealing with trademarks and their usage...but I agree with your comments Alex. I am also surprised that the USOC isn't seeing this as a boost in their "good" promotion (which IMHO is needed)
I definitely agree. They badly need some good vibes this year.
The USOC comes off as a prickly bunch while Oiselle's post appears to be genuine and supportive.
It's definitely overzealous in my opinion.
I've had the same thing happen to me when i shot photos for Hockey Canada. My point person allowed me to post the images but hadn't gotten permission from management. That soured my relationship with them greatly.
IOC is all about making money...not all about the athletes.
II would agree that the usage is incidental and the IOC is clearly greedy. However, it is the responsibility of every IOC sponsor to review all terms of the contract including all rights to use IOC trademarks and logos.
Did some USOC member not get enough bribes? The regulation definitely states what brands the athlete can wear during the olympics (and we've seen athletes miss participation because of it unfortunately), but threating a company for merely congratulating a long-time sponsored athlete for making it into the olympics is borderline abuse of the athlete and his/her existing sponsors. Those sponsors along with hard work are what got her there, not USOC. Actually the post doesn't even contain the word Olympics.. so how on earth is this a violation of any trademark?
Sounds like the USOC is sitting on something sharp. Were these images not captured at a public sporting event?
I think they just need to find the right USOC officials to pay off. Small unmarked bills usually work.