IOC Trademarks Part of Canadian National Anthem

gravis777 sends us to BoingBoing for news that the International Olympic Committee has trademarked a line from the Canadian National Anthem and is threatening to sue anyone who uses it. The line in question is "with glowing hearts." "The committee is so serious about protecting the Olympic brand it managed to get a landmark piece of legislation passed in the House of Commons last year that made using certain phrases related to the Games a violation of law. The list includes the number 2010 and the word 'winter,' phrases that normally couldn't be trademarked because they are so general."

Comments

That's ok

[khendron]

Most of us Canadians don't know the words anyway.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is funny because I'm an American and I do. It's a beautiful song.

Re:That's ok

[philspear]

Hey, the article was tagged "YOUR rights online," talking to ME. I'm not canadian, it's not affecting MY rights. WHAT'S THE DEAL!?!?

Re:That's ok

[urbanriot]

We went through thirteen years of school singing and/or listening to it, how can you not know the words? Seriously, sit there and try, or load up the background music... I bet the words will just come to you.

Re:That's ok

[TheLoneDanger]

Actually, most of us know it in two languages. They just told you that to make you feel better, which was very kind of them.

Re:That's ok

[just_another_sean]

Hey, the article was tagged "YOUR rights online," talking to ME. I'm not canadian, it's not affecting MY rights. WHAT'S THE DEAL!?!?

Here, try this as an expermient then. Grab a domain, WINTERGLOWINGHEARTS.COM will do and start selling snowglobes with the words Vancouver - Winter 2010 on them.

If no one hassles you then, yes, you're right; it has nothing to do with you. Please return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

You Sir are in a very small minority(probably alone)

Re:That's ok

[erroneus]

Canada has a national anthem? I thought they were still applying for statehood in the U.S.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Geeze I'm from Texas and I know the Canadian Anthem, it's the theme to Hockey Night in Canada, right?

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Singing the national anthem in school is really an American thing, no? I mean... I don't even remember singing it ONCE in school. (Of course, I live in Québec, where we actually are not American and not completely Canadian either...)

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Geeze I'm from Texas and I know the Canadian Anthem, it's the theme to Hockey Night in Canada, right?

yes, and we are looking for a new one.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

The way things are going, we'll be invading to take your furs and plant an American flag along with palm trees in the Arctic.

Re:That's ok

[SpiderClan]

That's funny. I grew up in Alberta singing the anthem in French every day in school. Try leaving Quebec sometime, you'll find that the language is in fact the only significant difference, and not that big a deal.

(I also live in Quebec, for the record)

Re:That's ok

[Brickwall]

Well, considering Trudeau changed the words in the 80's, I haven't sung it for nearly two decades. Can you imagine Reagan trying to change the words to the "Star Spangled Banner"? He would have been shot for sure.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a name for that minority. We're called "hockey fans".

Re:That's ok

[dieth]

We sold that Anthem too

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought they were still applying for statehood in the U.S.

No, we have given up on that idea as the US is history.

On Oct 17 we start formal negotiations to join the EU.

Re:That's ok

[Grimbleton]

One nation indivisible. One nation, under god, indivisible.

Yeah. About that.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Join the Expanded Universe? Wow. You guys have Jedi?

Re:That's ok

[eltaco]

they're insensitive clods!

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, I'd be careful making jokes about "The Hockey Theme." Bit of a touchy subjects with some of my fellow Canucks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hockey_Theme#Acquisition_by_CTV

Re:That's ok

[tomhudson]

Most of us Canadians don't know the words anyway.

You can't use them now anyway ... at least not in the "not-spring-not-summer-not-fall" season, or in "that-time-between-2009-and-2011".

frak the greedy SOBs

Re:That's ok

[JohnVanVliet]

Hay i got family on both sides of the Detroit river ,and it was only a small part of Canada that was thinking maybe if Quebec did secede that they might think about joining the US

Re:That's ok

[IllogicalStudent]

Canada has a national anthem? I thought they were still applying for statehood in the U.S.

Oh Shut Up!

That statement of yours isn't funny and is why a lot of Canadians hold somewhat of a resentment towards Americans. I DO believe that the resentment is misplaced, as it's merely "jokers" like you who give the rest of your countrymen (and countrywomen) a bad rap, not the general populace.

The 'joke' you attempted to make is a stupid one, an annoying one, and one that I, along with many others, am sick of putting up with. Canada IS NOT the `States; we don't want to be the `States (some particular political parties' actions notwithstanding); and given, along with the other general reasons why we're quite happy with our sovereignty, how utterly screwed your economy is currently, do you blame us? Hell, we're annoyed with the fact that your lovely Wall St. bankers are dragging us and the world down with you.

/rant

(So much for my karma).

Re:That's ok

[Chemicalscum]

We don't have to. Shortly after its foundation the US Congress passed legislation granting immediate automatic accptance of Canada if it requested it. It's about 200 years now and we are still declining it. Maybe its part of Harpers Hidden Agenda if he gets a majority. Who knows what the fat liar would do if he gets one.

Oh Canada - True North Brave and Free!

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually it isn't the theme for HNIC any more, and a great many of us are quite upset that our second anthem has been... misplaced...

Re:That's ok

[multisync]

yes, and we are looking for a new one.

The dumb asses at the CBC are looking for a new one. The rest of us will continue to enjoy it on CTV, TSN and Olympic Hockey broadcasts.

With glowing hearts.

In 2010.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh Shut Up!

That statement of yours isn't funny and is why a lot of Canadians hold somewhat of a resentment towards Americans. I DO believe that the resentment is misplaced, as it's merely "jokers" like you who give the rest of your countrymen (and countrywomen) a bad rap, not the general populace.

Do you mind if I stalk your account and tear into you any time you make a joke involving the USA? I'll be watching, just to make sure you're not a hypocrit.

Re:That's ok

[Alsee]

Shortly after its foundation the US Congress passed legislation granting immediate automatic accptance of Canada if it requested it.

I couldn't find it with a brief googling. Do you have a link?

-

Re:That's ok

[Alsee]

Geeze I'm from Texas and I know the Canadian Anthem

They should join the US.

Ummm, and the Canadians too, if they want.

-

Re:That's ok

[en.ABCD]

It was actually in the Articles of Confederation (Article XI):

Canada acceding to this confederation, and adjoining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of this Union; but no other colony shall be admitted into the same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine States.

However, the Articles of Confederation are no longer the law of the land, as they were replaced by the Constitution.

Re:That's ok

[Toonol]

Beautiful.

Re:That's ok

[gwait]

To Stephen Colbert no less!
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Video-Stephen-Colbert-on-hockey-theme-controver?urn=nhl,87395

With glowing hearts in 2010, punching beavers in the face!

The IOC can bite me.

Another reason not to vote for the Conservatives, as if Bill C-61 wasn't enough. Why the hell would you pass a law that lets someone trademark part of a national anthem that has been in the public domain for years? How does this benefit the voters?
What possible reason can they offer? At least tell me they got some kickbacks for it??
Dumbasses!

Re:That's ok

[TarrVetus]

Hell, we're annoyed with the fact that your lovely Wall St. bankers are dragging us and the world down with you.

/rant

(So much for my karma).

I can understand your frustration over people prodding Canada to join the US in a single Northern Hemisphere nation, but I don't agree with one point in that rant.

The bankers aren't the only ones to blame. Anyone in the world (well, most of it) had the choice to buy stock and otherwise invest in those companies. It's not just the fault of the bankers. The terrible truth of the situation is that it's the fault of those that invested in the banks when they knew they were giving bad loans, the government that didn't step in when they should have noticed something could go terribly wrong, the people that didn't tell the government something could go terribly wrong, the people that signed contracts they didn't fully understand.... The list goes on, and whether the investors were in the US, Canada, China, or Djibouti, the blame doesn't rest in one group or one country, anymore. Not in a global economy.

To use an overused metaphor, it's a giant crap sandwich, and whether everyone in the world took little nibbles or big bites, we shouldn't have done it at all, and we're all going to have to pay for it.

Re:That's ok

[jimdread]

Can you imagine Reagan trying to change the words to the "Star Spangled Banner"? He would have been shot for sure.

Newsflash! Reagan was shot!

Re:That's ok

[Bonobo_Unknown]

No, not everyone nibbled, but yes, many more people than nibbled are going to have to pay.

Re:That's ok

[jman11]

That faint roaring sound you can hear is the GP's post flying about 30,000 feet above you.

Re:That's ok

[vitamine73]

Well... considering that Quebec never signed the constitution it is certainly wrong to claim that language is the only significant difference... and that's just one example.

Re:That's ok

[innerweb]

Oh, come on! You expect many people to know (let alone believe) that the original did not have the words under god in it? And that it was written by a baptist minister)? You expect too much from the average person! But, they ought to know it anyway. ;-)

InnerWeb

Re:That's ok

[spike1]

He WAS shot...
Maybe he tried and only the shooter noticed. :)

Re:That's ok

[Ihmhi]

Oh yeah, you should see their lightsaber chainsaws and Sith beavers.

Re:That's ok

[jonadab]

> I DO believe that the resentment is misplaced, as it's merely "jokers"

Actually, at one time there were people in the US who seriously considered annexing Canada, possibly even by force if necessary. However, that was a while ago. Benedict Arnold was involved with it, and as you may know he later betrayed us in a treasonous fashion and became perhaps the most infamous name in US history, a name still used as a synonym for traitor. I don't think anyone has taken the notion seriously since his day.

On the other hand, it's also true that while most people from the US think of Canada as "another country", a lot of us don't really think of Canada when we think of a *foreign* country. For instance, a conversation like this is not unusual:

Alice: Have you ever been to a foreign country?
Bob: Yeah, actually I have.
Alice: Really? Where?
Bob: My dad and I went up to Ontario on a fishing trip three years ago...
Alice: That's just Canada. That doesn't count!

I think a combination of several factors is at work here.

In the first place, Canada isn't overseas. Everyone knows foreign countries are overseas. (Mexico is foreign despite this, but Mexico is fairly third-world and also fails the other criteria below.)

In the second place, the cultural differences are, in a word, minor. (The biggest one I can think of off the top of my head is that Canadians are comfortable paying absolutely insane amounts of sales tax. Granted, people here have trouble *identifying* with that, but on the other hand it doesn't make you seem incomprehensibly alien, just... complacent. Oh, and your paper money looks weird, but this is becoming less and less of a big deal every time the US Treasury experiments more and more with stranger and stranger designs on our own money. First the enormous portraits, and did you know they're using colors besides green now? What do they think we are, the Republic of Milton Bradley? You get used to that, and Canadian money hardly even seems weird any more.)

Third, most Canadians speak English, with barely even an accent. Discounting the word "eh" and a few Commonwealth-style spellings, you practically speak *American* English. This by itself probably wouldn't by a very big deal, but in combination with the other factors it all starts to add up.

Also, you don't need a passport to go to Canada. You need one (and probably a visa as well) to go to any other country, including Mexico, but you can go to Canada for the weekend and just show your driver's license or birth certificate or something when you cross the border, no big deal.

Finally, there's no significant international tension between the US and Canada. Strong evidence of this is the fact that Canada would easily be capable of creating nuclear weapons but pointedly does not do so, even though (and perhaps partly because) we have them. When there's tension across the border, you see the opposite pattern. When the USSR got the atom bomb, China wanted it; when China got it, India needed it, and when India got it, Pakistan felt they needed it. But you never saw Canada going, "Oh, no, the US has this terrible weapon, what are we going to do? We have to have it too, so they can't use it on us!" But between the US and Canada there's no real tension, so the Canadian government has never been afraid that we're going to nuke them. (Indeed, using a nuke that close to US soil is absolutely unthinkable for us, even if it wouldn't start WWIII, which it might do.)

Re:That's ok

[Curtman]

You can have Quebec. Please, take them. Please.

Re:That's ok

[Curtman]

But you never saw Canada going, "Oh, no, the US has this terrible weapon, what are we going to do?

Why would we do that? The U.S. gave us a whole bunch to point at the Russians.

Re:That's ok

[Curtman]

Also try googling "Manifest Destiny". You'll find this at Wikipedia:

Before 1815
During the American Revolution and the early years of independence there were both peaceful and violent attempts to include Canada in the United States. The Revolutionaries hoped French Canadians would join the Thirteen Colonies in the effort to throw off the rule of the British Empire. Canada was invited to send representatives to the Continental Congress, and was pre-approved for joining the United States in the Articles of Confederation. In the Paris peace negotiations, Benjamin Franklin attempted to persuade Britain to cede Canada to the United States. Canada was invaded during the War of Independence, and again during the War of 1812. None of these measures proved successful in bringing Canada onto the side of the Thirteen Colonies.

Re:That's ok

[bj bignell]

The theme to Hockey Night in Canada is no longer licensed for use by the CBC, and therefore is no longer the theme to Hockey Night in Canada. :(

Re:That's ok

[Curtman]

Singing the national anthem in school is really an American thing, no?

I'm afraid its much more rediculous in parts of Canada. We first sang the national anthem, then "God save the Queen" (why in the world we would want to do that, I'm not sure), then we said "The Lords Prayer" (even if we weren't Christian).

In public school in Winnipeg during the 1980's.

Re:That's ok

[rhsanborn]

You certainly weren't all that upset when it was dragging you up.

Re:That's ok

[Tickety-boo]

Deal, but if we take Quebec, you have to take Detroit.

I think that is only fair.

Re:That's ok

[cthulu_mt]

Benedict Arnold was involved with it, and as you may know he later betrayed us in a treasonous fashion

Is there an honorable way to betray someone?

Re:That's ok

[darthnoodles]

Bit it is still our second anthem.

Re:That's ok

[aproposofwhat]

Eh?

Re:That's ok

[tbannist]

Well, it's not so much that the people at the CBC are dumb, as they are on a budget and the people who own the rights to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song think they deserve a lot more money than the CBC is prepared to pay for a renewal of the license for the song.

The people who used to be in charge of the CBC may or may not be dumb for not having bought perpetual rights to the song.

Of course, if we had sane copyright laws, that wouldn't be an issue, because the song is old enough that the copyright should have expired by now.

Re:That's ok

[aproposofwhat]

Newsflash! Reagan was shot! [youtube.com]

But not well enough!

Re:That's ok

[stephanruby]

If anybody should be selling limited monopolies to common English words, we should be the ones doing it. The Canadians don't own the Internet. We do.

What arrogance!

Re:That's ok

[amliebsch]

Maybe, say for example the way R.E. Lee betrayed the U.S. Army?

Re:That's ok

[promixr]

Have you gone to 'withglowinghearts.com' - it's a really bizarre experience... not sure but I think it's hawking fine woolen underwear... lol I wonder if the IOC will end up going after an underwear company...

Re:That's ok

[Azar]

For crying out loud, we took Celine Dion off your hands for FOUR YEARS. Now you're just asking too much.

Re:That's ok

[VorpalRodent]

My father used to watch hockey on a regular basis. I knew the Canadian anthem before I knew the US anthem. For that matter, I also knew God Save the Queen before I knew whatever other song has the same tune.

I had a business trip to Toronto last year, and when asked my favorite hockey team, I still had enough in my head to answer sensibly.

Re:That's ok

[Skrapion]

Maybe so, but you don't speak real English, so it cancels out.

Re:That's ok

[multisync]

Well, it's not so much that the people at the CBC are dumb, as they are on a budget and the people who own the rights to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song think they deserve a lot more money than the CBC is prepared to pay for a renewal of the license for the song.

The CBC wanted to own the theme outright, but made a low-ball offer. Dolores Claman and her publisher offered to instead extend the existing deal, which gave them roughly $500 per three-hour broadcast. The CBC responded by announcing the contest to find a new theme and broke off negotiations.

I think they honestly (arrogantly) believed the rights holders would cave in. They also had their panties in a bunch because of the ongoing suit by Claman alleging the CBC used the song without permission (read without paying for it) on other programs, as well as rebroadcasts of HNIC in other countries.

When they later publicly offered to resume negotiations - to "save the theme for Canadians" - Claman responded by announcing the deal with CTV.

The CBC is welcome to use whatever negotiation tactics they choose. I'm a supporter of public television in general, and specifically the CBC (especially for their news and - yup - hockey broadcasts). But over the years the have shown a spectacular lack of understanding of what attracts viewers to HNIC. They employed similar "hardball" tactics when negotiating Don Cherry's contract last year.

Again, they are welcome to do so, but Don Cherry and the traditional theme were two big attractions for a lot of their viewers. Now they've lost one of those, and if they continue to step on the throat of the "golden goose," they're going to find themselves on the outside looking in. Without the revenue generated by hockey (especially playoff hockey) it's unlikely they would be able to maintain the high standards in their news department.

And that's a damn shame. The CBC belongs to the public. They are showing bad stewardship of a Canadian institution. But that's another rant.

Of course, if we had sane copyright laws, that wouldn't be an issue, because the song is old enough that the copyright should have expired by now.

I agree with you in principle about the length of copyright terms, but the CBC benefits from the current copyright laws just as much as Claman is, so I can't really condemn her for seeking fair market value when negotiating a deal.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

That's bullshit. I don't know where in Canada you were raised (Alberta perhaps?) but the rest of us know the words quite well.

Re:That's ok

[Lord Pillage]

Sorry, but that's already copyrighted and is now no longer the theme!

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear Fellow Texan,

As the only other HNIC fan in the state of Texas, I would be happy to buy a drink. If ever in a bar in DFW, yell "HOCKEY," and if I'm there, I will make good on my offer.

Thank you for giving me hope, oh Cowboy of the Rink.

Signed,
Because it's 'ockey Night in Canada, dammit.

Re:That's ok

[Dmala]

Through the third grade or so, I thought it was, "One nation, under guard..." These days, I'd say it's pretty appropriate.

Re:That's ok

[supernova_hq]

Last I checked, our anthem didn't even HAVE any lyrics...

Disclaimer: I am Canadian

Re:That's ok

[ScreamingCactus]

Now, now, the Canadian government has apologized for Celine Dion on many occasions.

Re:That's ok

[alisson]

Even I know it in English.

Of course now it's with snowing hearts or something.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Now the people that TOOK the bad loans, they did nothing wrong.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Americans don't sing the national anthem in school either. We do the pledge thing every day, if we can't find a way to get the teacher to ignore us. I remember singing "My country tis of thee" occasionaly, but I don't remember when, and it's not our national anthem so it doesn't cfount.

Re:That's ok

[persicom]

That's how you can tell a real hockey fan in the US - we know it. Extra points if in French.

Re:That's ok

[Darby]

I DO believe that the resentment is misplaced, as it's merely "jokers" like you who give the rest of your countrymen (and countrywomen) a bad rap, not the general populace.

Then, quite frankly, you are a fucking idiot.
He's one of the few people here who actually realizes that it's a joke.

Re:That's ok

[Darby]

But not well enough!

Maybe, maybe not. Had that fascist fuck gotten the traitor's death he well earned, then it just would have meant an even longer reign of the Bush crime family.
Talk about a lose lose situation.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Not for much longer. The license for the current Hockey Night in Canada theme song was not renewed. The CBC is having a contests for the replacement. You can check out the contenders here:

http://anthemchallenge.cbc.ca/

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

VANOC (vancouver olympic organising committee) did this, not the IOC.

Re:That's ok

[jrbirdman]

Nope! I do! I do! When you have to sing the national anthem at hockey and baseball games....it kinda goes with the territory. "Oh Canada, our home and native land. True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise the true north strong and free...." Ok...you can find the rest of it online somewhere. Dave in Florida.

Re:That's ok

[AgentPaper]

Which isn't such a bad idea, now that we think about it - we get jobs and healthcare, Canada gets a world-class hockey team...

Kidding, kidding.

(Full disclosure: The author is a native Detroiter who frequently gets mistaken for Canadian, and wouldn't mind being annexed if it would stop the "No, really, what country are you from?" comments from fellow Americans.)

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're Canadian, and do not know our national anthem, I am ashamed to be your fellow countryman. Learn this. Do NOT close the web page until you have it memorized, you unpatriotic shithead. I am typing this from memory, and I know it's perfect. Because I am a real Canadian.

O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
True patriot love
In all thy sons command.
WITH GLOWING HEARTS,
We see thee rise,
The True North strong and free.
From far and wide,
O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land,
Glorious and free,
O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

Re:That's ok

[Anonymous Coward]

with snowing hearts

Mon pays, ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver; mon coeur ce n'est pas un coeur, c'est la neige... -- Vigneault

Of course the part of the current anthem that gets sold out is just the radiological accident (faulty plutonium powered pacemaker) rather than the sexist bits (English), the Christian bits (both) and the offensive weaponry (French). At least we get to keep the nice stuff ("O Canada, our home" and "nos droits").

Re:That's ok

[IllogicalStudent]

Oh Canada - True North Brave and Free!

True North Strong and Free.

Sheesh!

Re:That's ok

[jonadab]

Well, I don't know about honorable... but there's your garden-variety betrayal of the "I'm not willing to support you any more, I know you were counting on me, sorry, but I just can't do it" variety. If timed badly, that can still really hurt, and it will certainly land you in a court marshal at the very least (dereliction of duty and so forth), and if timed very badly it could potentially lead to charges of treason. So I wouldn't really call that honorable. Nonetheless, it's categorically not the same thing as what Arnold did, which was more along the lines of "Hey, I know you were really counting on me, but I've been actively cooperating with the enemy and just lead you into a big trap, haha."

Re:That's ok

[cavebison]

Ah it's slowly becoming clearer now.
It's just back then on Earth, they were called Colonies, not Tribes.

O Canada!

[KillerBob]

Hmm... not too keen on them trying to copyright my national anthem... but the copyright on the use of the word "winter", I like. We get too much snow as it is. Mother nature fears a lawsuit...

Re:O Canada!

[Anonymous Coward]

The Canadian National Anthem is copyrighted by the crown. You are speaking about trademarks, such as the Canadian Flag, which is trademarked by the crown also. To use the Canadian Flag you need to obtain a release from the government, or hope you meet the government's preferences.

Re:O Canada!

[Anonymous Coward]

The Canadian National Anthem is copyrighted by the crown.

Isn't "the crown" a Brit?

Re:O Canada!

[Fnordulicious]

The Queen of Canada is just as Canadian as Stephen Harper, although she talks kinda strange for a Canadian.

Re:O Canada!

[Aardpig]

No, the Queen of Canada is Canadian. The Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is British. The Queen of Australia is Australian. Legally, they are three completely separate entities; they just happen to inhabit the same hot body (M'am).

Re:O Canada!

[TimSSG]

I am going to stop this talk about Global Warming (tm). Pat Pending

Re:O Canada!

[Anonymous Coward]

That's HRHILF Queen Elizabeth II, to you!

Re:O Canada!

[ozbird]

That's HRHILF Queen Elizabeth II, to you!

Her Majesty The Queen.

Re:O Canada!

[Anonymous Coward]

not too keen on them trying to copyright my national anthem

If you don't know the difference between copyright and trademark, then you really aren't smart enough to understand anything related to trademarks.

But I'm here to help reduce your concerns. Are you going to sell a product called "The 2010 Winter Olympics Coffee"? If so, you should be worried.

Re:O Canada!

[GaryOlson]

IS HRHILF like ROFLMAOWANW (...With A Naked Woman)?

Re:O Canada!

[insane_membrane]

Actually, the Queen of Canada is German...

Re:O Canada!

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the nuns tried explaining that to me a long time ago. Didn't make sense then either.

Re:O Canada!

[Wavebreak]

And what's more, some of these entities have, in relatively recent history, been at war with each other.

Re:O Canada!

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the Queen of Canada is British, the Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is British, and the Queen of Australia is British. They're all separate kingdoms, but there's still the one monarch at the moment... and she's British.

Re:O Canada!

[jdevivre]

We are not amused.

Re:O Canada!

[CamD]

I thought Rush was the Queen of Canada.

Ok so...

[Anonymous Coward]

"The IOC are a bunch of fascists - with glowing hearts"

How was that? Sue me.

Re:Ok so...

[dgatwood]

Always fear those with glowing hearts. They might still be radioactive.

Re:Ok so...

[gstoddart]

Always fear those with glowing hearts. They might still be radioactive.

Or, you know, aliens in Spielberg movies. :-P

Cheers

Re:Ok so...

[calidoscope]

I'm due for another Cardiolyte imaging in February, so may have a glowing heart when the games are on.

Re:Ok so...

[Eudial]

"The IOC are a bunch of fascists - with glowing hearts"

How was that? Sue me.

I'm sure they'll get around to that in the winter of 2010.

Coming

[Rinisari]

Coming Winter 2010.....

SNOW!

Re:Coming

[Anonymous Coward]

SNOW! (TM)

Fixed it for you.

Re:Coming

[collinstocks]

No,

Coming [censored] [censored].....

[censored]!

There, fixed it for you.

Re:Coming

[Anonymous Coward]

fuck the olympics

Re:Coming

[Anonymous Coward]

This is Vancouver. I think you meant 'RAIN!'

Public domain

[Anonymous Coward]

I hereby claim invention of the phrase 'fuck litigious international committees', and release this phrase into the public domain.

Re:Public domain

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, "international committees" is owned by the IOC. Your phrase is in violation.

Re:Public domain

[kvezach]

How about the phrase/name "International Organization of Corruption" and its associated acronym?

Re:Public domain

[DrLang21]

Does anyone even care about the Olympics anymore? After crap like this, and all of the crap they let China get away with breaking their rules, I don't want the Olympics anywhere near the US. They have come to represent poor integrity and greed to a degree worse than the investment banks that are now putting our economy in the crapper. Somehow I don't feel that they still represent good sportsmanship.

Re:Public domain

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha! The US also had their share of manipulating the Olympics, changing the way points are counted, considering any medal as worth the same as a gold medal.

Na, na, na. The US ended in second, even though every media outlet in the 'States said otherwise.

Re:Public domain

[Humorless Coward.]

I hereby claim invention of the phrase, "with beating hearts removed from the chest, soaked in kerosene, and lit aflame so they glow brightly."

And release it for use solely within the Slashdot Community (TM)*




I also claim invention of the term, "Slashdot Community" and release it for use among the public domain, so long as accompanied by the following: "Slashdot Community" is a trademark of Humorless Coward.

Re:Public domain

[DrLang21]

This is all just part of the poor sportsmanship I am talking about.

The IOC...

[Anonymous Coward]

...are a bunch of hosers, eh?

What I have to say...

[Secret Rabbit]

... is that this Canadian and a lot of people that I know will, with glowing hearts, ignore this piece of nonsense on the basis of prior art.

p.s. With the Conservatives in power when this was done, and the fact that they are more than likely to get back in, does anyone think that this will change?

Re:What I have to say...

[dubbreak]

Trademark has nothing to do with prior art. That's patents. They aren't attempting to patent the words. It has to do with rights for a certain use of the words. So in this instance the use of "with glowing hearts" in relation to the olympics. If you use the words in other ways commercially that don't attempt to tie into the olympics in any way shape or form, then you are in the safe (the measure is whether you are diluting the brand of the IOC by using the trademarked phrase).

While I don't agree with this TM being granted, I don't really think it limits anyone. Sure Bell can't use the Canadian anthem in a special olympic cell phone deal for the upcoming olympics, but it won't (or shouldn't) affect canadian citizens in general. It does prevent people who attempt to jump on the olympic money wagon for free without paying the IOC fee and possibly goes overboard to affect innocent advertisers that are overly patriotic (pretty rare in Canada compared to the US).

It overly favours the IOC, but the gov't has a lot to gain from that.

Re:What I have to say...

[illegalcortex]

Considering they passed a special law, prior art really has nothing to do with it. In the US, the Olympics long ago go a heinous law passed that gave them trademark rights on things you couldn't normally trademark. They didn't go so far as the anthem, but you cannot legally put the name "Olympic" in your business. Who cares of the thousands of years of prior art. This came to my attention when they recently forced the band named the Olympic Hopefuls to change. And it was, unfortunately, all very legal of them to do so.

Here's the law:
http://www.inta.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=187&Itemid=59&getcontent=1

Here's a story on the band:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1507047/20050805/index.jhtml

Re:What I have to say...

[antic]

"... is that this Canadian and a lot of people that I know will, with glowing hearts, ignore this piece of nonsense on the basis of prior art."

Just looking to clarify - would you say that "2,010 people that you know" will, with glowing hearts, ignore it?

Re:What I have to say...

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no prior art in copyright. Please review the various different forms of IP law (at least the big 3 that keep coming up: copyright, patents, trademarks) before spouting off nonsense.

Generic terms and even proper names can be trademarked (i.e. Nike, Apple) - I'm not sure about the various intricacies of when they get rejected though. Trademarks are there to ensure that there is no brand confusion and so that companies can maintain their reputation. Thus, generally, trademarks only apply within the product market that the company is involved in - Apple (Beatles label) vs Apple (computers). However, this again oversimplifies the situation.

Re:What I have to say...

[Anonymous Coward]

...all "winter" long?

Re:What I have to say...

[gstoddart]

... is that this Canadian and a lot of people that I know will, with glowing hearts, ignore this piece of nonsense on the basis of prior art.

Another poster has already pointed out that prior art doesn't apply, but I'll provide a sample nonetheless here. ;-)

p.s. With the Conservatives in power when this was done, and the fact that they are more than likely to get back in, does anyone think that this will change?

I move we make these mice honorary Canadian citizens. They might be better than the weasels we have in Parliament.

Cheers

Re:What I have to say...

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no prior art in copyright. Please review the various different forms of IP law (at least the big 3 that keep coming up: copyright, patents, trademarks) before spouting off nonsense.

Maybe you should take your own advice and STFU. This is a trademark claim not a copyright claim.

Re:What I have to say...

[Brickwall]

Oh please. The Conservatives are in a minority; if the BQ, Liberals, and NDP wanted to quash it, they could have voted it down. But, just as the opposition has completely turtled on every bill the Tories bring in, they did it again.

And I read the bill; it doesn't deny anyone the right to use IOC trademarks such as "Olympic" or "Olympia" in connection with a business as long as they were using those names before March 2007. And all the trademarks expire at the end of 2010.

What did amuse me was that they also trademarked "Gold" and "Silver". So I guess if you're starting up a precious metals mining business, your name choices will be somewhat limited.

Re:What I have to say...

[Machtyn]

It overly favours the IOC, but the gov't has a lot to gain from that.

The IOC knows the business of bribes. So do politicians.

Re:What I have to say...

[Atzanteol]

ORLY?

Re:What I have to say...

[Anonymous Coward]

I was going to go to Vancouver sometime in the winter of 2010, but then I learned the Olympics would be there and decided to tour a toy factory. They make E.T.s with glowing hearts and a magic set with five interlocking rings.

Re:What I have to say...

[whereiswaldo]

You are absolutely right. People like us are going to ignore this bullshit. Assholes.

Re:What I have to say...

[Secret Rabbit]

1) WERE in a minority, government was dissolved a little while ago.

2) The Liberal leadership (and others) was (is probably still) too weak to vote down something for fear that it would bring down government and invoke an election when they didn't have favourable polling numbers. So, much for that, eh. Harper went against his own bill and did it anyway. Another example of this behaviour was the immigration bill that significantly weakened the point system in favour of the person reviewing the application. The Liberals were venomously opposed to it, yet they let it pass because of the same fear.

3) Limiting use of something so very general is against reason no matter how long/short the time limit on it is.

4) Your example of metals works against your point.

Re:What I have to say...

[Secret Rabbit]

Fair enough about prior art. But, it does limit people. See an example below regarding metals. Also, note that limiting usage of the national anthem is retarded no matter how limited that limitation is. I'll also point out that with blogging so damn popular, this could mean a hell of a lot of lawsuits (if even if people aren't careful on there wording when writing about this story). This also sets a precedent that I would rather not have on the books. That could turn ugly in the future when the IOC and others wish to do other things. So yah, government could have a lot to lose.

Re:What I have to say...

[gwait]

In other news Citizens of the area known as the Olympic Peninsula are breathing a sigh of relief,
in fact may even have glowing hearts in the winter of 2010, during their Gold and Silver anniversaries..

Re:What I have to say...

[belmolis]

The Olympic Peninsula is in the United States so Canadian law does not apply.

Re:What I have to say...

[ubernostrum]

So in this instance the use of "with glowing hearts" in relation to the olympics.

Not quite. The IOC is not happy with merely controlling use of what they perceive to be their trademarks in relation to the Olympics; they actually seek to control any use, for any reason. For example, the role-playing/card game(s) "Legend of the Five Rings", which takes its name from a Japanese book on dueling published long before the IOC ever existed, was forced to change its visual-identity branding -- even though it had not one single thing to do with the Olympics -- because that branding included five interlocked circles, something over which the IOC claims control in any form and in any context.

Re:What I have to say...

[nietsch]

So what does their gov't gain from it? improved human rights conditions? international allure? drilling rights in the north pole? Unless most salaries are at the level of china (and they manage to employ only people that are actually needed), Canada will not gain much monetarily from it, not even in taxes paid over the profits made.

Re:What I have to say...

[Brickwall]

The Liberal leadership (and others) was (is probably still) too weak to vote down something for fear that it would bring down government and invoke an election when they didn't have favourable polling numbers. So, much for that, eh. Harper went against his own bill and did it anyway.

Right - so we had a situation where the Opposition could bring down the government any time they chose, but the government couldn't call an election. I would like to see the bill redrafted so that it only applies to majority governments.

Limiting use of something so very general is against reason no matter how long/short the time limit on it is.

Again, if you bothered to actually READ the bill, it is limited to preventing companies who haven't paid any fees to the COC/CPC from trying to profit from the Olympics. As others have noted, there is a company called "withglowinghearts" in Canada (they make wool products, I believe) and since they were in business before March, 2007, they are exempt from the restriction, unless they decide to come up with a special design for the Olympics. News organisations are exempt from the regulations, The only people who will be prevented from using these trademarks are free loaders.

Re:What I have to say...

[tacocat]

Thank you for a little practical insight.

I am still of the opinion that this is dumb... You would think that the IOC would have some idea of how this would be perceived.

Personally, I gave up watching the Olympics entirely. Originally not so much because of the IOC but because of the commercials and extremely poor coverage. But this demonstrates that the Olympics continue to marginalize themselves from the original ideal.

Re:What I have to say...

[Anonymous Coward]

There was a death metal music label called Olympic Recordings which was also forced to change due to this.

Re:What I have to say...

[ubercam]

There is a Saskatchewan company called Mitchell's Gourmet Foods (began in 1940) who sell a line of meats under the name "Olympic Fine Meats". Mitchell's are now owned by Maple Leaf Foods. Let's assume that "Olympic Fine Meats" has already been trademarked, as all brand names are.

Now that it's illegal to use Olympic in any trade or business name, does that invalidate existing trademarks containing the now illegal words/phrases?

Re:What I have to say...

[Syberz]

Although I think what the IOC is doing is dumb, I think a lot of people seem to misunderstand what it means. You're not going to get sued for singing the anthem or saying the word "winter" or the number 2010; you will get sued if you make t-shirts with those words on it and try to sell them, i.e. if you profit in some way by using those trademarked words. Just like you won't be sued for saying "Nike" but will be sued if you start making and selling your own "Nike" shoes.

One thing I totally disagree with is the IOC suing companies that existed even before there was going to be Olympics in Vancouver just because they have those words in their name. That's wrong. Hell, what's preventing me from trademarking the word "Store" and suing whoever uses that in their business name?

Re:What I have to say...

[neoform]

They aren't attempting to patent the words. It has to do with rights for a certain use of the words.

Don't you love how intellectual property works? You and I no longer have permission (legally) to use the phrase "With Glowing Hearts" anywhere and at any time without permission from the IOC. Even in private conversations, since that would be infringing upon the IOC's rights to a phrase that they clearly own.

Re:What I have to say...

[Anonymous Coward]

They didn't go so far as the anthem, but you cannot legally put the name "Olympic" in your business.

What about Olympic Paint and Stain complete with a paint brush symbolized as a torch?

http://www.olympic.com/

Re:What I have to say...

[excelsior_gr]

Then what about Olympic Airlines? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Airlines/
Or the soccer team Olympiakos? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympiacos_FC/

When the Olympic games were held in Athens in 2004 I didn't hear any such discussions back then. Although lots of souvenir retailers were pissed because they were no more allowed to sell the merchandise that have been selling for ages... Always after the small folk I say...

Re:What I have to say...

[Rary]

That was the USOC, not the IOC, as it is only in the US, due to a special act of Congress, that the trademark in question is able to extend beyond the normal boundaries of trademark law.

Re:What I have to say...

[illegalcortex]

Did I miss when Greece was admitted into the US?

I'm talking about in the US, because I'm talking about a US law.

Re:What I have to say...

[illegalcortex]

Yes, RLY.

Olympic Paint and Stain falls under the pre-existing business category, as they were founded in 1938, before the 1950 law.

(2) A person who actually used, or whose assignor actually used, the words or any combination of the words described in subsection (a)(4) of this section, or a trademark, trade name, sign, symbol, or insignia described in subsection (c)(4) of this section, for any lawful purpose before September 21, 1950, is not prohibited by this section from continuing the lawful use for the same purpose and for the same goods or services.

There are a couple of other exceptions (if you're actually referring to a mountain range named Olympic before 1998 or if you only market "in the State of Washington west of the Cascade Mountain range and operations, sales, and marketing outside of this area are not substantial"). But yes, in general you cannot start a business and put the name Olympic in it unless you fall into those strict exceptions.

Re:What I have to say...

[illegalcortex]

As described in my other comment, this falls under the exception for pre-existing businesses. The company was founded 12 years before the law was even created.

Re:What I have to say...

[illegalcortex]

The US law is written such that pre-existing businesses are allowed to keep their name and emblems. You just can't start any new business and put the name "Olympic" in it (with a few very specific exceptions). I haven't read the text of the Canadian law but I'm going to assume it's the same.

Re:What I have to say...

[Shadowlore]

Oh you mean like this or them or here or them?

Your first link is not a link to the law, but an interpretation of it. The second link talks about "The Olympic Hopefuls" dressing as part of their band, in tracksuits. The similarity of them (their name and outfit) to the Olympics is not only obvious but admitted.

Re:What I have to say...

[illegalcortex]

I know I didn't give a link to the actual law, I rushed the post and didn't see that it wasn't the real deal. But it did have the reference there and a quick googling would have shown you this:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/36/220506.html

Read this first, if you haven't already. There are two very specific exceptions. One is for someone who was using the trademark before the original version of this law was passed in 1950. That's a no-brainer. The other is a VERY targeted exception that only applies to companies located in the state of Washington west of the Cascade Mountains where "operations, sales, and marketing outside of this area are not substantial". Additionally, they must specifically be referring to the Olympic Mountains there.

All of your examples fall under these two narrow exceptions:

• Olympic Arms - located in Olympia, WA. emblem includes a mountain.
• Olympic Paint - founded in 1938
• Olympic College - founded in 1946
• Olympic Paint Horses - "Nestled in the 'Rainshadow' of the majestic Olympic Mountains, the beauty of the Cascade Mountains and the charm of a Victorian seaport you will find Olympic Paint Horses."

The Olympic Hopefuls were doomed, even without the tracksuits or admitted similarity. Read the law. It's all there. Or don't believe me and try to start a business with Olympic in the name. Better hope you're in Washington.

PS: Here's a link to yet another lawsuit by the IOC:
http://seattletrademarklawyer.com/blog/2008/7/31/olympic-cellars-and-usoc-settle-olympic-trademark-dispute.html
Basically, you had someone who fit the exception on being in WA, but they started selling outside the area. They got smacked down and forced to limit their marketing to what the law says. And here is a link about the demise of a company mentioned by another poster, Olympic Recordings:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/BlabberMouth.Net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=41620

Re:What I have to say...

[mgcarley]

Great Idea! I my new product shall have a logo with *six* rings, representing all of the inhabited continents (and not counting Antarctica with a population of 1000 *temporary* residents), and it shall be called "Olimpyc"... or possibly the cyrillic versions of those letters, just to be annoying, because it would not sound much like "Olympic"...

w*nter?

[Anonymous Coward]

So somebody open a ski store have to call it a Coldest Season Sporting Goods store now?

Re:w*nter?

[Steauengeglase]

Honestly, I think I've already seen that.

In Canada snow trademarks you

[oceaniv]

Take that soviets. Oh and does this mean I can trademark the word "God"? If so I am happy. Otherwise I am going to continue the refrain that our society has officially jumped the shark.

2010 with glowing hearts

[Majik Sheff]

Please will the insanity stop?

2010 2010 2010

They can kiss my ass with glowing hearts.

Re:2010 with glowing hearts

[perlchild]

It will stop when passing legislation this stupid can land them in jail, and not a second before.
I sure hope the estate of Callixa Lavalee(author of the anthem) is listening, and has contacted their lawyers...

Re:2010 with glowing hearts

[Fluffeh]

Hmmmm there goes my ideas for making a nuclear apocalypse zombie game that was going to be titled "2010 - with glowing hearts!"

Damn you IOC, spoil my ideas for a zombie fps!

Re:2010 with glowing hearts

[Mistlefoot]

Ask "T-Shirt International CORPORATION WEST VIRGINIA 2101 Grace Street Culloden WEST VIRGINIA 25510". They copyrighted "Land of the Brave" several years ago. The sky didn't fall. http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm

Re:2010 with glowing hearts

[Anonymous Coward]

They'll probably do so in Winter 2010. Their hearts glowing while they do so.

Re:2010 with glowing hearts

[Anonymous Coward]

...And how about "Home of the Brave"? Or was that taken by the Sioux Nation?
--
AC

Re:2010 with glowing hearts

[ErroneousBee]

It may slow down a bit when groups like "The Yes Men" start turning up. Maybe a few fake takedown notices to major news organisations might help too.

Re:2010 with glowing hearts

[Anonymous Coward]

They can kiss my ass, with glowing farts....

Re:2010 with glowing hearts

[Anonymous Coward]

They can kiss my ass with glowing hearts.

...in winter.

Typical

[soundguy]

Unbridled corporate douchebaggetry

Re:Typical

[game kid]

...with glowing hearts!

Re:Typical

[ozphx]

I smell a new meme with glowing hearts!

Re:Typical

[jlarocco]

I hate to troll, but what's with all the hate for the free market on Slashdot? Why not blame the idiotic government that allows this to happen?

Think about it. If we got rid of all (or most) businesses, we'd destroy our quality of life. If we made the government smaller we'd end up with fewer stupid laws like the one that let this shit happen; so we'd have less to complain about and our quality of life would improve.

Re:Typical

[Brickwall]

Did you actually READ the bill? It's intent is to stop free-loaders from slapping "Olympic" and the like on products, and making money without contributing to the Games. All the trademarks expire at the end of 2010, so it's not like they have the rights forever. And, if you have a business like "Olympia Restaurant" and you were in business before March 2007, you can continue to use the "trademarked" term. Any business with a large public profile is fairly vigilant about protecting their name and brands; why should the IOC be any different?

Re:Typical

[jlarocco]

Does Canadaian law not have trademarks? Did they really need a law making it specifically illegal to use Olympic catch phrases?

Do all companies with "large public profiles" get their own laws in Canada?

Re:Typical

[Brickwall]

Yes, Canadian law does have trademark provisions. However, if you looked at the bill, you'd see that most of the words and phrases included would normally not be eligible for trademarks - like "Gold", "Silver", "Winter", etc. And, again if you'd read the bill, you'd see that the intent is to stop people from free-loading on the Olympic symbol.

From the government of Canada's website re: Bill C-47

Commentary

Bill C-47 enhances the protection for Olympic symbols beyond that normally afforded to trade-marks. Although existing intellectual property law in Canada could arguably be used to protect Olympic symbols and marks, the sheer volume of possible violations, within a short window of time, are presumed to be the justification for the enhanced protection.

There has been substantial debate about tactics used in connection with sporting events to discourage the use of ambush marketing. In the United Kingdom, a statute was recently passed that, among other things, will outlaw ambush marketing for the 2012 Olympics.(10) A coalition of advertisers argued that this legislation was draconian and overly restrictive. Citing one example, the legislation would not allow a business to say "come to London in 2012."(11) Advertisers in Britain viewed these restrictions as potentially damaging to the economic "halo effect" that the Olympics promises to bring, stating that "London businesses in particular will be paying for these Games but they are being deprived of benefiting from them because they will basically have to pretend they are not happening."(12)

There are also accusations that prohibitions against ambush marketing can be carried too far. In one of the more bizarre examples of an attempt to prevent ambush marketing, more than 1,000 Dutch fans at the FIFA 2006 World Cup match in Germany were forced to relinquish their orange lederhosen during a game against the Ivory Coast. The lederhosen were stamped with the name "Bavaria," although Bavaria Brewery (Netherlands) was not an official World Cup sponsor. When Dutch fans tried to enter the stadium, they were required by FIFA officials to abandon their lederhosen, and were forced to watch the game in their underwear.(13) Before this incident, Heineken, an official sponsor of the Dutch football association, had taken legal action against Bavaria Brewery in Holland but lost; the Dutch judge had ruled that fans could wear whatever they wanted.

As proposed, Bill C-47 appears to address some of these concerns. Although it clearly strengthens the ability of the COC, CPC, and Organizing Committee to seek injunctions against any marks presumed to be encroaching on the Olympic brand, it also imposes limits on the legal reach of these powers through the exceptions. Criticism, for example, is protected, as is the use of Olympic symbols in news coverage. Firms whose use of related symbols pre-dates the Games are similarly protected, as are wine and spirit makers who use any of the terms listed in schedules 1, 2, and 3 to describe the origins of their products. Similarly, the interim injunctions in which irreparable harm need not be proved, could be, under Bill C-47, made available only for a short window of time.

Re:Typical

[gwait]

Point taken but who stops the IOC from freeloading on our National Anthem?

I say we sell this one to Colbert as well, the hell with it!

We could then get the CBC to offer up the new Hockey theme as an Anthem as well, one less song to learn eh?

Re:Typical

[MightyMartian]

So far as I'm concerned, there should be a law banning any copyrights or trademarks on anything that so much as a penny of taxpayer money goes into. Since the Canadian taxpayer is paying for a bunch of drug addicts to show up and compete against each other and the drug testers, I think the Canadian public should own the rights, and any citizen should have the right to use the phrase or the word "Olympics" any way it wants.

For chrissakes, the Olympics was an ancient Greek event. The very thought that an international criminal syndicate (that's right, the IOC is a goddamned criminal syndicate) isn't banned from even crossing the border, let alone making any kind of legal moves to trademark anything is an outrage.

But hey, people love to watch drug addicts competing, and love the spectacle of idiotic nationalism, so why not trademark a verse from a song which is in fact in the public domain.

Re:Typical

[Anonymous Coward]

> The very thought that an international criminal syndicate (that's right, the IOC is a goddamned criminal syndicate)

Well, of course, what else should they be. IOC does stand for "International Organized Crime", right?

Re:Typical

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't tradmark Gold Silver or Winter because it makes no sense to trademark Gold, Silver and Winter. Their example is horrible. Why SHOULDN'T a business in London be able to say "Come to London in 2012," even if they're implying you should do it because of the coming Olympics?

Excuse me but...

[GlobalColding]

Is it 2010 base 10, or 2010 base 8? 'Cause that still leaves a lot of wiggle room.

Re:Excuse me but...

[ameline]

It could be anything base 3 and above...

Re:Excuse me but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it 2010 base 10, or 2010 base 8? 'Cause that still leaves a lot of wiggle room.

Stop giving them more ideas.

Re:Excuse me but...

[Sentry21]

I'm pretty sure it's hex - 0x2010 - but they don't specify the endianness, so I'm not sure where they're going with this.

Re:Excuse me but...

[Mhtsos]

Windows has performed an illegal operation by accessing 0x2010 within 10km of an Olympic stadium and will be shut down.
(the icon next to the message is a glowing heart with a X over it)

Re:Excuse me but...

[eeyore]

You could have 0x7DA printed on your geeky and extremely unofficial Olympic T-shirt.

--
E

Re:Excuse me but...

[jimicus]

Is it 2010 base 10, or 2010 base 8? 'Cause that still leaves a lot of wiggle room.

2010 base 8 would probably be written 02010 so I reckon you'd be fine.

Re:Excuse me but...

[KZigurs]

base three, probably.

Anonymous Coward

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh no!

2010 winter
with glowing hearts afire
I mock Olympics

Re:Anonymous Coward

[Anonymous Coward]

nice haiku.

Re:Anonymous Coward

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh no!

2010 winter
with glowing hearts afire
I mock Olympics

you write in haiku
missing one small syllable
you fail in your form.

gaijin -_-

Hey IOC...

[actionbastard]

Take off, eh.
Hosers!

Continued IOC Actions Will Engender Public Outrage

[hadesan]

"The IOC, what a bunch of hosers, eh?"

The more exposure the IOC's lawsuits bring to their activities the the more idiotic their actions will be perceived. The lawmakers will eventually cave as the whiplash from the public outrage nails them...

this is retarded

[theheadlessrabbit]

so how will counting work with this new trademark in place?

2008
2009 ...
profit!

Re:this is retarded

[Yvan256]

The Americans went ahead and changed the range of dates for the daytime savings.

We're doing one better by skipping 2010 completely.

Re:this is retarded

[Anonymous Coward]

You must live in Vancouver because that's a bang-on assessment.

Montréal 2010!

What about the French Version?

[kaufmanmoore]

How dare they not consider the French Version on the same level as the English version. This is an insult to Quebec. Its time for revolution! Viva Quebec!

Re:What about the French Version?

[couchslug]

"Its time for revolution! Viva Quebec!"

French identity must be preserved!
Break out the white banners of victory, and greet the enemy legs akimbo!

Re:What about the French Version?

[Patchw0rk F0g]

Break out the white banners of victory, and greet the enemy legs akimbo!

I've visited Montreal. That's a disturbing mental visual.

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, they did.
The french motto (also from the anthem): "Des Plus Brillants Exploits" means "Our most glorious deeds"

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, don't worry. "Des plus brillants exploits" was stolen too.

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

How dare they not consider the French Version on the same level as the English version. This is an insult to Quebec. Its time for revolution! Viva Quebec!

... There are french Canadians outside Québec... We seem to ALWAYS be forgotten. It gets quite annoying.

Re:What about the French Version?

[Petrushka]

"Its time for revolution! Viva Quebec!"

"Car ton bras sait porter l'épée", indeed. (But it might be wise to learn to say that in French ... "Vive le Québec", not "viva".)

Re:What about the French Version?

[Fishead]

I was listening to CBC today, and they mentioned the trademark of the words "with glowing hearts" as well as the french version of these names.

very ghey

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

You bastard! It's 'vive', not 'viva'!

Re:What about the French Version?

[gstoddart]

"Car ton bras sait porter l'épée", indeed. (But it might be wise to learn to say that in French ... "Vive le Québec", not "viva".)

And, I believe it's "Vive la Quebec". (Dropping the accent because Slashcode borks unicode apparently)

Cheers

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree, go back to Quebec where you belong.

P.S. I'm American, that's a joke, go find someone to surrender to and get over it.

Re:What about the French Version?

[SpiderClan]

You don't respect the Spanish Quebeckers?

I'm Quebequito, myself.

(If Viva isn't spanish for live, I'm gonna look like an idiot.)

Re:What about the French Version?

[SpiderClan]

If they conceded that there was French in Canada outside Quebec, they'd have to stop complaining.

Re:What about the French Version?

[Pig Hogger]

No it doesn't: Vive le Québec libre!

Re:What about the French Version?

[gstoddart]

No it doesn't: Vive le Québec libre!

OK, I stand corrected. Apparently, it was firefox (or me).

However, it is "la belle provence". I don't have access to the original speech, but part of me is thinking that it should be in the feminine.

Then again, it's possible de Gaulle used the masculine form in error or in deference in case it would be inappropriate.

Cheers

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

FYI: "provence" is a region in France. "Province" is what you're looking for (same as in English). And it's definitely "Le Québec", with no relation with the fact that "province" is a feminine noun. Le Canada, la France, le Japon, la Belgique; I don't think there's any rule saying what country/region names are masculine or feminine, same as with any word in the French language (or German, Spanish, etc for that matter).

Re:What about the French Version?

[ceoyoyo]

Viva is the formal singular imperative conjugation of vivir, to live in Spanish. So you're safe. ;)

Re:What about the French Version?

[Smartcowboy]

If i had mod point, i'd mod you troll.

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're confusing "the French" with "francophones". Draw a Venn diagram if you still don't understand.

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

How dare they not consider the French Version on the same level as the English version. This is an insult to Quebec. Its time for revolution! Viva Quebec!

I know this is probably a totally old comment, but VANOC staked claim to two phrases, "With Glowing Hearts", and a phrase from the french language version as well.

Re:What about the French Version?

[jonadab]

> But it might be wise to learn to say that in French ... "Vive le Québec", not "viva"

French, Spanish, what's the difference, eh?

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

How dare they not consider the French Version on the same level as the English version.

Sorry to break the funny, but "Des plus brillants exploits" from the French version has also been trademarked.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/09/25/bc-vancouver-olympics-trademark-o-canada.html

Re:What about the French Version?

[neoform]

"Car ton bras sait porter l'épée", indeed. (But it might be wise to learn to say that in French ... "Vive le Québec", not "viva".)

I learnded how to spek anglish brecause of Bill 101, bat my anlish is so bad je doesnt no what to translate.

Re:What about the French Version?

[gravis777]

If you click on the link in the BoingBoing article, it takes you to the article on the CBC website. FTA

The lines "With glowing hearts" from the English version and "Des plus brillants exploits" from the French version will soon be emblazoned on Olympic merchandise and promotional material as a national campaign to promote the mottoes is rolled out across Canada this fall.

Re:What about the French Version?

[AndrewM1]

Quebec is actually masculine, as is Canada (le Quebec, le Canada).

Notice that the motto of the Bloc Quebecois (the political party that advocates specifically for Quebec) is "Present pour le Quebec"

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

We're talkin' Vietnaam 'n' Somalia, right?

Re:What about the French Version?

[gstoddart]

Quebec is actually masculine, as is Canada (le Quebec, le Canada).

All so very complicated, because I thought it was "vive la France", and therefore countries were in the feminine -- I'm probably wrong about that too. :-P

I must say, as a native speaker of English, the whole masculine/feminine thing as used in French (and other languages) has always been exceptionally difficult for me to get my head around. The rules seem fairly arbitrary at times. :-P

Thanks for the update.

Cheers

Re:What about the French Version?

[pjt33]

La France is indeed feminine. And gender assignments are fairly arbitrary: witness the way certain neuter nouns in Latin have become masculine in some Romance languages and feminine in others. (E.g. milk: in French it's le lait (m), in Spanish la leche (f)).

Re:What about the French Version?

[Pig Hogger]

All so very complicated, because I thought it was "vive la France", and therefore countries were in the feminine -- I'm probably wrong about that too. :-P

We, the french, like sex a lot, to the point of putting sex into our words. And to do like the english, we carefully avoid to do it logically... For example, animal names clearly avoid any logic:

They have sexes too, irregardless of the actual sex of the actual animal we're talking about (but often, the female either has a specific name or a feminine version which is an e appended), so a mouse (souris) is feminine while a rat (rat) is masculine, a horse (cheval) masculine (female: jument), sheep (mouton) male (female: brebis), goat (chèvre) male, a spider (araignée) female, boar (sanglier) masculine (female: laie), snake (serpent) female, tiger (tigre) male, otter (loutre) female, squid (calmar) male, octopus (pieuvre) female, and so on...

Re:What about the French Version?

[pjt33]

I'd read it as a subjunctive rather than an imperative in that context.

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

How dare they not consider the French Version on the same level as the English version. This is an insult to Quebec. Its time for revolution! Viva Quebec!

Actually, they did. "Des plus brillants exploits" was also trademarked. Even the IOC is afraid of the Quebecois!

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't mind them being arbitrary, if they served a purpose. I'm glad the English at some point decided to throw out gender for nouns.

Re:What about the French Version?

[Pig Hogger]

I wouldn't mind them being arbitrary, if they served a purpose. I'm glad the English at some point decided to throw out gender for nouns.

Jamais! They serve a valid purpose: make us smile at english people putting the wrong gender on words while trying to speak french... :) :) :) :)

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

Le Québec -- c'est la province du Québec

La Québec -- c'est la Ville de Québec où se trouve l'Assemblée nationale du Québec. (www.assnat.qc.ca)

n.b.: du ~ le

Santé!

Re:What about the French Version?

[Anonymous Coward]

Canadian French is different and in recent times is trying to be much less arbitrary, much as is the case in Standard French where imported nouns are almost always masculine. Canadian French imported many English words hundreds of years ago, so older imports are essentially arbitrary gender-wise, while more recently imported nouns are much more frequently feminine.

This sort of thing is usually discussed in Canadian French itself, and tends to be somewhat political, but I have a purely descriptive and fairly neutral source at hand:

Robinson & Smith (NTC) p 247 (English version):

[...] Many [but cf. French version p. 243 "La majorité"] of these characteristics are also found in colloquial European French.

Gender

a. The masculine/feminine distinction applies to words borrowed from English, of which half are feminine: job, joke, shop (f); fonne, slaque, tire (m). This is very different from the situation in France, where recent anglicisms are generally masculine.

b. There are differences in gender from standard French: affaire (m); air, ouvrage (f). This applies particularly to nouns beginning with a vowel.

c. Gender is used to make distinctions unknown in standard French: J'ai acheté un radio; je l'ai entendu à la radio.

d. At times, gender distinctions may be lost, as in the demonstrative adjective: c'te garçon-là, c'femme-là. Ce/cette are thus in free variation.

e. Elles is heard rarely: Y, I (Ils) sont bonnes, les pommes, astheure.

f. The creation of feminine nouns is more prevalent in Québec than in France: agente de voyage, agriculturice, auteure, caporale, cardiologue, chauffeuse, chef, chercheuse, docteure, générale (armée), ingénieure, jurée, lieutenante mairesse metteure en scène, ministre, notaire, officière, pilote, policière, réviseure, sénatrice, sergente, soldate, superviseure.

g. Il and ils are pronounced and written I or Y: Iaime pas ça.

h. Elle and elles are pronounced and written A: A veut pas manger.

i. Ils or I replace On: I disent que le temps sera beau.

[end quote]

[begin simple example of politicization]

Several of these have been creeping into standard French; at the time of writing, 1989-1990, it would have been considered strongly -- possibly stridently -- feminist to refer to e.g. Édith Cresson as la ministre des affaires européenes and even in 1991-1992 when she was Prime Minister of France she was le premier ministre français. It was already uncontroversial for Monique Bégin in 1976 to be "Mme la ministre" and "la ministre du Revenu national", Jeanne Sauvé followed suit as well (she was in charge of various ministries, became the first "présidente de la Chambre des Communes" (where she was addressed as "Mme la Présidente"), and of course the first "Son Excellence la Très Honorable Gouverneure-générale du Canada" (there have been two more since)). By comparison with Édith Cresson, Kim Campbell was "la premier ministre canadienne" in 1993.

Having the gender of the office follow the sex of the person holding it has become somewhat fashionable in Paris in recent years.

This tendency is different from English where the masculine form is now considered gender free or has been supplanted by a neologism (e.g. conductor, flight attendant). This may be because feminized titles or occupations of low rank are now considered demeaningly sexist (e.g. stewardess, hostess) and of higher rank were always rare (navigatrix, aviatrix, maitresse d'). Standard French followed this pattern too. In Canada, it would be completely normal (and disambiguating) to talk about "la chef de cuisine" (f) or, conversely, "le receptioniste à l'hôtel de la ville" (m). In France, the former still makes a point, and the latter might be a little too sharp.

Sydney Olympic Games

[myowntrueself]

Reminds me of when they found that they could not use the phrase "Sydney Olympic Games" because Mr Syd Games -- Mr Sydney *Olympic* Games -- had registered it as his trademark.

Boy was John Clarke pissed about that.

Re:Sydney Olympic Games

[dnoyeb]

Oh I'm sure they could use it. They just didn't want too. Probably think $$$ is their right and nobody should get in the way of it.

Personally, the olympics suck anyway. Let them keep strangling it. They will only kill it until it can become something for everyone.

Re:Sydney Olympic Games

[myowntrueself]

sigh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Games_(Australian_TV_series)

One of the best comedies to come out of Australia ever. Even better than Shark Bay.

John Clarke, easily one of the great 'straight men' of all time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clarke_(satirist)

Re:Sydney Olympic Games

[Anonymous Coward]

The Games was a fantastic TV show.
Good to see similar humour is back with The Hollowmen.

Beat them ...

[ProfM]

Quick ... need to trademark all even numbers between 2012 and 2100.

Re:Beat them ...

[davester666]

I guess I'll take the odd numbers, just for the hell of it...

Re:Beat them ...

[thrillseeker]

I've got all those in between (I'd better start writing 'em down now ...)

i wish i knew sooner...

[creativeHavoc]

I rushed off to register domain names in protest :D withglowinghearts.ca redirects to one of the worst designed pages ever: "From play to Podium" with no TM noted by any of the text. GoDaddy tells me pretty much every tld is taken. IOC and RIAA have probably shared a couple beers in the past.

Re:i wish i knew sooner...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://withglowinghearts.com/ is a Canadian wool-oriented company. The site is Flash hindered and I didn't feel like reading further.

Sung to the lyrics of O Canada

[andreyvul]

I O C
Shut the fu-u-uck up!
Go fuck yourselves
You greedy heartless fucks.
With glowing hearts,
We will block your channels
Say goodbye to your ratings!
Fu-u-u-uck you,
I O C_______,
You're the Sciento-lo-gy!
Of organized
Spo-o-o-orts
Shove Winter up your ass 2010 times.
Shove the medals up your ass and go-o broke.

Re:Sung to the lyrics of O Canada

[Anonymous Coward]

They did this quite a while ago... I'm surprised people are only realizing this now.

Re:Sung to the lyrics of O Canada

[vorpal22]

Indeed. The one benefit of global warming that I'm looking forward to is that it'll (hopefully) kill the Olympic winter games, thus cutting the stupidity in half. Still, half of infinity is still infinity, so perhaps my hopes are in vain.

Only in America.....

[aingleby]

.. oh wait ....

Re:Only in America.....

[joneil]

...actually, yes in America, indirectly. The man who wrote "Oh Canada" first served as a Lieutenant in the Northern Army during the Civil War, a Rhode Island regiment. Perhaps the line "we stand on guard for thee" was somehow inspired or influenced by his military service in the USA. In which case, maybe the US government can claim "prior art" to part of the anthem, and in turn sue the IOC. Just stick the RIAA on the case and see what happens. :)

Re:Only in America.....

[Hucko]

Has USA begun investigating the kidnapping of Alaska?

Re:Only in America.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Canada is in America.

Re:Only in America.....

[shrikel]

Because Canada is not in America.

Re:Only in America.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Callixa Lavallée wrote the music, not the lyrics (in either official language). Routhier, the original lyricist that inspired Lavallée's musical setting of the words, and Weir (who wrote the English lyrics later) were both barristers and jurists in Montréal and were uninvolved in the U.S. civil war. However, Routhier was a committed confederationist with respect to the colonies which would become Canada in 1867 in reaction to the U.S. doctrine of Manifest Destiny, the Fenian Raids, the American Civil War, and cutbacks in colonial deployments of regular British troops. Weir was quite a bit younger than Routhier or Lavallée, having been born in 1852.

Routhier wrote the "stolen" fragment: "les plus brilliants exploits".

Weir wrote the "stolen" fragment: "with glowing hearts", and the line you quote: "We stand on guard for thee".

It is not really plausible that either man was thinking of the American Civil War. In fact it's more probable that both were writing about repelling the various American invasions of Canada.

Re:Beta Index

[Anonymous Coward]

huh? It looks the same to me, but now I can vote down dumb articles, like in the firehose. And the tags are moved to the right.

O, Canada

[Anonymous Coward]

Our home and trademarked land.

This is pathetic. It's a fricking public domain song, and a national anthem. And WINTER??!!! What, advertisers can't sell "winter tires" anymore, or play "winter sports"? When the weather channel refers to the "winter wonderland" outdoors, will they be in trouble?

"Vancouver organizers have already taken small businesses in the Vancouver area to court for using the word Olympic in their names â" even ones in existence long before the Games were awarded to Vancouver â" and have launched lawsuits against people who've tried to register Olympic-related domain names on the internet."

Even for ones already in existence? That's just low. My heart is not glowing. I am not proud of my country for enabling this IOC nonsense to happen. The government should have told them to choose some other motto, and leave pre-existing businesses alone.

Re:O, Canada

[Brickwall]

This is from the government's website describing Bill C-47:

Trade-marks used before 2 March 2007: Anyone with a trade-mark - or license to use a trade-mark - who used that trade-mark before 2 March 2007 or before publication in Part I of the Canada Gazette of an order that adds an Olympic or Paralympic mark to Schedule 1 or 2 of the proposed legislation can continue to use the trade-mark. However, only the same goods and services or goods and services of the same general class as had been sold before Bill C-47 was introduced are eligible for this exemption.

Reading can really educate you.

Prior Use...

[Anonymous Coward]

...I think this one will be pretty easy to defeat.

Is the IOC really so powerful..

[hedgemage]

that they are able to subvert the host country's laws so effectively? I know that they have muscled around 'smaller' countries, but I would think that Canada wouldn't be so easily swayed. What am I missing that makes the IOC so powerful? Is it simply the 'investment opportunity' and business that the Olympics bring? Is national pride so easily wounded that we have to kowtow to their every whim? Its no secret that the IOC is incredibly corrupt and profit driven... how come modern democratic states aren't telling them to fuck off and clean up their act? Instead the US, Britain, Canada, etc. seem to be bowing and scraping to meet their every demand.

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[thrillseeker]

What am I missing that makes the IOC so powerful?

Does Canada have "campaign contributions"?

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[Anonymous Coward]

All politicians are corrupted by a photo opportunity

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[illegalcortex]

Yes. Money. Yes. Irrelevant. Apathy.

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[Anonymous Coward]

Most likely outcome:

[ringing phone]

"RCMP - E Division. How may I help you?"

"This is the IOC Property Division. We have evidence of misuse of Olympic trademarks."

"Please call back in 2011. We are unable to fill out forms in the current year due to trademark issues."

In other words, this is hopefully a meaningless law; passed in order to keep IOC lawyers at bay.

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[Brickwall]

Nope - the previous government passed a law restricting contributions from corporations to $5,000, and the new Tory government reduced that to $1,100 and completely outlawed contributions from companies or unions - only individuals can make contributions. Interestingly, the Tories, who are thought to be right wing, have always received the majority of their contributions from individuals. It was the Liberal party, who campaign on the left but actually govern from the centre, which received the most corporate money. Which is one reason that they're actually broke, and unable to run many TV ads in this election.

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[jimicus]

that they are able to subvert the host country's laws so effectively? I know that they have muscled around 'smaller' countries, but I would think that Canada wouldn't be so easily swayed.
What am I missing that makes the IOC so powerful? Is it simply the 'investment opportunity' and business that the Olympics bring? Is national pride so easily wounded that we have to kowtow to their every whim? Its no secret that the IOC is incredibly corrupt and profit driven... how come modern democratic states aren't telling them to fuck off and clean up their act? Instead the US, Britain, Canada, etc. seem to be bowing and scraping to meet their every demand.

They've been getting special laws passed in the UK too.

Remember this isn't just one group of people with a lot of money. It's one group of people with a lot of money who will also make a lot of money for a lot of other people - for instance, when Coke sponsors the games, you won't be able to buy Pepsi in the olympic village. Money talks, and when there's a lot of money it not only talks, it gets up in Parliament, makes speeches and proposes laws.

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[jonadab]

> they have muscled around 'smaller' countries, but I would think that Canada wouldn't be so easily swayed.

I'm not sure size is really relevant, but...

Canada takes up a large chunk of land area on the map, but in other respects it is not as large as the square footage seems to imply. They have a smaller population than Colombia, for instance, and a smaller total GDP than Mexico.

Basically, the northern two-thirds of the country has roughly the same population density as the moon.

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[jonadab]

> Remember this isn't just one group of people with a lot of money. It's one group of
> people with a lot of money who will also make a lot of money for a lot of other people

On top of that, the Olympics also has a very positive (one could almost say grandiose) public image among the general population. Any politician who is questioned about voting for something like this just has to talk about the spirit of the Olympics and international cooperation and competition and whatnot, and he'll be off the hook with most of the electorate in nothing flat.

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[ConceptJunkie]

Money talks, and when there's a lot of money it not only talks, it gets up in Parliament, makes speeches and proposes laws.

Oh, get over yourself... we've had that in the U.S.A. for years and it's been fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for Halliburton/Disney Re-education Camp.

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[PMuse]

. . . how come modern democratic states aren't telling them to fuck off and clean up their act?

• Because the IOC is accountable to no one. They can punish nations arbitrarily.
• Because there is always another country willing to pass any law to host the Games.
• Because there is no alternative source than the IOC for supplying the honors of medals and hosting.
• Because even the reasonable trademarks that the IOC owns in many countries represent an entrenched barrier to starting a rival olympic-style games.

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[Stiletto]

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for Halliburton/Disney Re-education Camp.

You mean, public school?

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[Grishnakh]

Don't forget, Canada looks absolutely enormous on many maps because flat maps (especially those using Mercator projections) are highly distorted near the poles, leading to things like Greenland looking as large as Africa. Canada's big, but it's not that big.

For Americans, a convenient rule of thumb for Canadian population is that it has about 1/10 the population of the USA. (Hint: most Americans have no clue what the population of Colombia is. I know my geography pretty well I think, but I couldn't tell you the population of most South American countries without looking it up. My guesses for European and Japanese populations would be a lot more accurate.)

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[ConceptJunkie]

Yes, and it's "Show Solidarity with Our New Messianic Overlord" Day

Re:Is the IOC really so powerful..

[jonadab]

> Canada's big, but it's not that big.

No, geographically, it really is big, no matter what kind of map projection or globe you look at. Well, okay, it's not as big as Russia, but not much is. (Several of the continents have less land area than Russia.) But Canada is big, bigger, in terms of land area, than any *other* country (besides Russia) that you care to name, including the US.

But, as I said, that can be deceptive, because, to put it bluntly, a lot of that land area has a higher population density of polar bears than people. Most of the human population is concentrated in the southern third of the country, and even there it's not very densely populated by US standards.

Very funny

[thewils]

I thought about registering withglowinghearts.com but someone beat me to it :)

Re:Very funny

[dschl]

And withglowinghearts.ca is also taken. Looks like a site for a book about paralympic athletes. Wonder when (not if) the sick heartless [expletive deleted] at IOC will try and yank the domain.

Re:Very funny

[just_another_sean]

winter2010.com, vancouver2010.com, all taken.

WinterGlowingHearts.com is free! Grab it while you can! :-)

Some chinese company got 2010.com, ha, ha*.

*in my best nelson

Re:Very funny

[Scaba]

withglowinghearts2010.{com,ca} are available - go for it!

Re:Very funny

[thewils]

Man, you'd think they'd know by now to register the domains before major announcements like this.

Re:Very funny

[Alsee]

We're the sick glowing heartless [expletive deleted] at IOC, thankyouverymuch.

-

Re:Very funny

[gravis777]

If they were smart, one or the other will have trademarked the name before the IOC. Of course, even if they did, the IOC will win. The first looks like a home-brewed online store, and I doubt that they will have the money to fight the IOC.

Prior art.

[AJWM]

The estate of Sir Arthur Clarke and MGM might have a thing or two to say about attempting to claim 2010.

Re:Prior art.

[dcam]

I believe trademarks are specific to domain.

Also I thought you couldn't trademark numbers?

Re:Prior art.

[Gresyth]

Arthur C Clarkes' book and the film are the first things 2010 brings up in my mind. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010:_Odyssey_Two IOC can go pursue airborne intercourse with a pastry

Re:Prior art.

[jimicus]

The estate of Sir Arthur Clarke and MGM might have a thing or two to say about attempting to claim 2010.

No such thing as prior art - it's trademark law. Which in the UK (not sure about elsewhere, suspect it's similar) can be boiled down to "you can't use this word or phrase in a context which is likely to confuse the customer into thinking you're somehow linked with some other organisation which has trademarked it."

Hence I would probably be in trouble if I set up a mail-order office supplies company called "Viking Office Supplies Ltd" because of Viking Direct but the radio station Viking FM is perfectly OK.

Olympics about openness and freedom...

[Brain Damaged Bogan]

can anyone remember when this was true? Certainly not in my lifetime... the IOC seems to be run by bigger arse hats than the RIAA... at least the RIAA haven't started trademarking phrases in lyrics... yet.

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[barzok]

at least the RIAA haven't started trademarking phrases in lyrics

Maybe we should let them, on the condition that they can only do so if they explain the meaning of the lyrics of that song.

Then we'd finally find out WTF Stairway to Heaven is all about, who You're So Vain is about, and WTF a Karma Chameleon is.

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[Lord MuffloN]

DON'T GIVE THEM ANY IDEAS!!!

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Openness" and "freedom"?

Juan Antonio Samaranch, Fascist (literally!!!!), disagrees with you.

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[Bieeanda]

They're just harkening back to the original Olympics. I hear they're going to start burning hecatombs of oxen to Zeus again, soon.

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[mabhatter654]

IOC is not like the RIAA, they are what ICANN wants to be!

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[Anonymous Coward]

No, but they've got them covered under copyright anyway. They started pull down lyric websites a few years ago (though it would seem they've given up).

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps Canadians in B.C. should pressure visiting Washingtonians to petition to rename an entire mountain range in the Cascades. And do so with glowing hearts...

Now it's just a matter of figuring out a name that would sound good, and allow businesses in the region to name themselves in reference to it without violating an idiotic trademark that shouldn't have been allowed in the first place.

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[jcwayne]

From Wikipedia:

"The sportive, knightly battle awakens the best human characteristics. It doesn't separate, but unites the combatants in understanding and respect. It also helps to connect the countries in the spirit of peace. That's why the Olympic Flame should never die."

- Adolf Hitler, commenting on the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[WTF Chuck]

Damn It Man!!! Why did you have to give them that idea now?

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[ceoyoyo]

Sure. I expect it was before they became a multibillion dollar business.

A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking about something worth being corrupt over.

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[deniable]

... and competing naked. I'm waiting for the fencing myself.

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[Jesus_666]

Then we'd finally find out [...] WTF a Karma Chameleon is.

Someone who comes and goes, duh.

Re:Olympics about openness and freedom...

[squiggleslash]

Oh, that one's easy. Carly Simon was on record of saying it was about some guy she met who called himself "Barzok".

Oooooh....

[roc97007]

Are "Winter 2010" and "with glowing hearts" the new 09 F9?

Wow, Winter 2010 is shaping up to be really cold. I'm glad I got my firewood in, my family can sit in comfort with glowing hearts in our family room. So bleh.

Re:One thought springs to my mind...

[Patchw0rk F0g]

...what the fuck have happened to the world?

Oh, dere's dose "legs akimbo" Quebequois chimin' in again...

Doan worry, leetle Quebequois. We'll keep da wolves from da porte... Join wit us, wee'l keep da IOC on da rocks for da time it takes, eh?

To the IOC

[SageLikeFool]

Dear IOC,

FUCK YOU.

With glowing hearts,
Canadian Citizens

Re:To the IOC

[JohnnyGTO]

You forgot to add Winter.

Re:To the IOC

[Anonymous Coward]

go to http://www.vancouver2010.com/, click contact, us paste it in

Re:To the IOC

[Anonymous Coward]

Done

Is Kevin McBride available?

[HermDog]

We can commission him to sue Canada for infringing our dumb law patent. All we have to do is demand $700 billion, and our little banking problem is all cleared up!

Time to bury our heads...

[mnslinky]

I really think it's time to just bury our heads in the sand. This world has become fucking crazy. What happened to common sense? What happened to old-fashioned business? Why can't we trust a smile and a handshake anymore?

I know this sounds a little pie-in-the-sky, but it's how I feel. I run a business. I'm honest. I make enough money for me, my business partner, and our employees. As honestly as I can. Sure, cheap, slimy people sometimes snake a customer away, but the ones to come to us are loyal. Almost crazy loyal. This world is truly getting sad.

Re:Time to bury our heads...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't want be that guy you know, but that is the face of true capitalism. If money can truly buy you happiness (which is the current acceptet thesis today, it seems) then why should you stop short of anything in making them, if you can? How many of the scandalized, environment destroying, child labor intensive companies still thrive? A lot of them! Almost all of them. People forget and the companies know it.

Re:Time to bury our heads...

[MadMidnightBomber]

I'd rather bury the head of the IOC in the sand. Will that do?

Re:Time to bury our heads...

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we should all take a minute to realize (or accept) exactly what makes all of this corruption possible: government.

Trademark all permutations.

[suck_burners_rice]

I have a great idea. I'm gonna write a Python script that goes, word for word, through a dictionary file for each of the world's 13 most common languages, and compares each of those words to the list of copyrighted words in each of the world's 20 most influential countries, and automatically spits out a trademark form, completely filled out, in PDF format, for each word that is not already trademarked. Now in just about any lawsuit relating to one of these trademarks, it is pretty obvious that the trademark will be thrown out, so the script will then compute every permutation of 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-, and 10-word phrases that can be constructed with all of these words, and spit out the corresponding trademark forms for them, too. Thus, the trademark system can be completely hijacked and nobody can say any sentence because it will consist entirely of, or contain within it, one of the trademarked phrases.

Re:Trademark all permutations.

[kesuki]

sadly, it's not quite that easy, trademarks are easily denied. however a the IOC is given a lot more room for trademarking that normal people and corporations don't have. also, it cost money to trademark 'everything' it's not quite like copyright where you can copyright 5000 pages for the same price as copyrighting 1 page, at least as far as i know it isn't cheaper to trademark a whole lot of phrases all at once,

they have to make money after all, if they gave a big discount for mass trademarking then where would the revenue come from? apparently to go global with a trademark, that is a separate filing as well..

"Is my trademark registration valid outside the United States?
No. However, if you are a qualified owner of a trademark application pending before the USPTO, or of a registration issued by the USPTO, you may seek registration in any of the countries that have joined the Madrid Protocol by filing a single application, called an "international application," with the he International Bureau of the World Property Intellectual Organization, through the USPTO."

Re:Trademark all permutations.

[jcwayne]

Beware of potential patents in this area.

Re:Trademark all permutations.

[Asic Eng]

This won't work, the law ordinarily already prevents trademarks for words like "winter" or numbers like "2010". The problem is that a law was passed granting trademark rights specifically to the IOC, on words and phrases which would not normally qualify. They could do the very same thing if you'd filed a trademark previously for "winter" - you'd still not be able to use it commercially in connection with the olympic games.

This commercial aspect is the next thing to keep in mind: trademark law does not prevent you from talking about the olympic games, it just restricts what you can do commercially. So if you write: the corrupt IOC want's to trademark "winter" and "with glowing hearts" you can do that - there is fuck all they can do about it. Now if you have a company that sells "winter tea" (and have done that for decades) - then you could well be in trouble, because they could exploit that law to extract money from you.

I really don't see why a commercial organization like the IOC which exists primarily in order to profit their members should get special status.

Actually...

[Anonymous Coward]

An article I read about this last week said that the IOC would only seek to prevent people from using it in Olympic-esque aspects. You could still use the phrase for a knitting store (which there is, apparently, somewhere in Ontario), but there would be a problem if that store tried to sell sweaters with the Olympic rings on it, for example.

I don't agree that it's right, but that summary up there's a little wrong.

"With Glowing Hearts"

[Anonymous Coward]

God dammit!

Spielberg has done enough damage with the radio thing, don't give him any more excuses to edit E.T.!

"In the Special Canadian Edition of E.T., due to import restrictions, we've edited the film so that E.T.'s heart leaks green pus instead of gl- er, instead of shining."

I stopped paying attention

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearly the Olympics isn't about games anymore, that's why I stopped paying attention. I hear more about the crap surrounding it than the games itself. It's not fun anymore.

On related news...

[fahrbot-bot]

Steven Spielberg has announced a sequel to ET (The Extra-Terrestrial) for release in February 2010.

Tagline:

He is afraid. He is totally alone. He is 3 million light years from home. The IOC is after him...

Re:On related news...

[Anonymous Coward]

He is afraid. He is totally alone. He is 3 million light years from home. The IOC is after him...

...with walkie talkies

Re:On related news...

[nacturation]

Steven Spielberg has announced a sequel to ET (The Extra-Terrestrial) for release in February 2010.

Tagline:

He is afraid. He is totally alone. He is 3 million light years from home. The IOC is after him...

Let me guess... the IOC wants its glowing heart back?

Re:On related news...

[Anonymous Coward]

sorry that I haven't bothered to sign up so that I could get modpoints and mod you up...

Very clever, very funny :-)

Olympics = Stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

The Olympics are for sell outs and commercialization. It baffles me why people still put such high value on this parade of stupidity. I almost feel sorry for the athletes that participate.

It's become such a joke.

Re:Olympics = Stupid

[A beautiful mind]

I don't feel sorry for the athletes. They participate in the circus willingly and use a ton of drugs to achieve unnatural things.

Now that I think about it, we ougth to award some biochemistry awards for some Olympic records...

Re:Olympics = Stupid

[Grishnakh]

They also falsify their birth records so they can compete under-age.

this is just sick

[canadianbaconm]

There is a facebook group that just popped up for this. "The IOC needs to stop trademarking culture!"

Re:this is just sick

[freeweed]

There's a facebook group that just popped up announcing to the world that some kid popped his first zit.

The sad part is, I only wish I was exaggerating and/or trolling...

Royalty Payment Due

[sciop101]

Due to non-receipt of royalty payments, you are not licensed for WINTER 2010. Adjust your calendar.

Is "with glowing hearts" a '60s talk or a New Age imagery?

Winter

[tompaulco]

Winter, winter, winter, winter, winter, 2010, winter, 2010, 2010, winter, Chicago, 2010, winter.

With glowing hearts,
Me.


P.S. IOC, I would be happy to translate this for you in case you can;t figure out my point.

Mod parent troll

[Anonymous Coward]

Canadians take great pride in the fact that we are completely different from the US on many fronts, particularly in the fact that we are much less of a capitalist society and that we ascribe to more socialist ideas. This comment is inane, shortsighted, and clearly indicative of the self-centredness of the US. Maybe it was meant to be funny, but there's really not anything funny about it; in fact, it's rather insulting, and the only possible humour it holds is in its absurdity.

Re:Mod parent troll

[SpiderClan]

Speak for yourself. Most of us have real accomplishments to be proud of, rather than some vague nationalistic nonsense over which we have no real control. And as anyone with friends and family on both sides of the border will tell you, you're not that different from Americans, anyway.

The comment wasn't funny, but that's because it was unoriginal, not because it was insulting.

Re:Mod parent troll

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you have a flapping head, too?

Re:Mod parent troll

[carlzum]

Americans are generalized far too much. People from Seattle and Vancouver are more similar than Seattle and Houston. Talk to people from North Dakota and the Canadian border. You can't say ND residents are more like New Yorkers or Southerns than Canadians. Quebec is an exception, the cities are like nothing else in North America.

Re:Mod parent troll

[Anonymous Coward]

tabarnak!

Re:Mod parent troll

[Anonymous Coward]

Canadians take great pride in the fact that we are completely different from the US on many fronts,

Except that the population is about to vote a Neo-Con into government.

Re:Mod parent troll

[Anonymous Coward]

sti

Re:Mod parent troll

[lhuiz]

Which is true of people anywhere. In Holland, where I happen to live, people from the southern Limburg province are much more like the people on the other side of the border with Belgium than they resemble people from the north of the country, or even the center. Dialects are quite similar too over the border, whereas people from the North have trouble understanding Limburgers. And Holland is only 300 km long!

Re:Mod parent troll

[grub]

Quebec is an exception, the cities are like nothing else in North America.

s/North America/the known universe/

Ren & Stimpy!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hasn't anyone learned anything from watching Ren & Stimpy? You HAVE to learn the lines if you watch that.

"Our country reeks of trees..."

Re:Ren & Stimpy!

[Anonymous Coward]

Our yaks are really large, and they smell like rotting meat carcasses....

Dealing with the IOC

[Dzimas]

The most appropriate response to the IOC's increasing reach and commercialism is to make an effort to tune out the Olympics (TM). There are a great many amateur meets that happen throughout the world on a regular basis, and they're always in need of volunteers and spectators. If you can't do without a regular fix of Olympic (TM) patriotism, steer clear of the Olympic-branded (TM) merchandise and take a few minutes out of your life to let major sponsors of The Games( TM) know that you're avoiding their products because of the way the IOC has corrupted amateur sport (TM).

This is one instance where money really talks. A sharp downturn in funding and public opinion would work wonders.

I'm Canadian, so I'm going to take 10 minutes following the upcoming federal election to write a letter to my member of parliament complaining about the IOC's misappropriation of lines from our national anthem. The work is in the public domain, and it is quite obvious that the organizers of the Vancouver games are attempting to exploit its patriotic meaning for inappropriate commercial gain.

Re:Dealing with the IOC

[Anonymous Coward]

"In the public domain" does not mean what you think it means, and you're going to embarrass yourself in front of your legislator. Their use of public domain work is wholly appropriate, even if you or I don't like it.

Re:Dealing with the IOC

[Dzimas]

I'm comfortable with the definition of 'public domain' as it pertains to the Copyright Act of Canada, thanks. I agree that copyright of the national anthem is in the public domain, which generally means that anyone can use it for commercial or private purposes. However, you're overlooking the notion that trademarks can also fall under the public domain.

There is no doubt that the IOC is free to trademark an inane phrase that they wish to associate with the games, much like McDonald's has co-opted "I'm lovin' it." However, in this instance the IOC has trademarked "with glowing hearts" solely because of its strong association with our national anthem. Strictly speaking, this is a legal application of the mark. However, one could make an argument that the mark is invalid because it is what the act terms as "deceptively misdescriptive" (in this case, it's virtually meaningless, actually). From a legislative perspective, there is a list of prohibited marks related to government and royal marks. The text of the national anthem does not fall under this category, but I will make an argument to my MP that it should.

Ahhh Canada!

[ConanG]

The Maple Leaf State

Re:Ahhh Canada!

[DittoBox]

Maple leaf? Oh yeah, maple leaf. Right. Japanese maple leaf. Gotcha. *wink*

Glowing hearts?

[eagl]

Does that mean that Spielberg is gonna get sued for E.T.? What if I watch E.T. in winter 2010... Will they have to re-release an edited version with glowing heart censored out?

Anyone else wondering if the IOC has strayed so far from the original spirit and intent of the Olympics and become such business-focused greedy rat bastards, that we need to give them the big finger and start over with a governing body that is actually focused on the athletes and the games rather than the money?

Re:Glowing hearts?

[Psmylie]

Does that mean that Spielberg is gonna get sued for E.T.? What if I watch E.T. in winter 2010... Will they have to re-release an edited version with glowing heart censored out?

They'll just digitally move the "glowing" effect to E.T.'s wrinkled ass.

SGC?

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only one who sees this and thinks of the International Oversight Committee?

Prior Art and Ownership

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering the Olympic Gods' traditionally easygoing and lighthearted attitude to human acts that affect them or their interests, and the historical link between them and the games....

And the game's ideals....

Well, if I were associated with the (mainly european) olympic committee, I'd be wary of lightning bolts, furies, erratic telelological cryptozoological manifestations, and similar coincidences - from now on.

I didn't mention a giant bull, since that area seems to already have been overtaken by the (mainly european) olympic committee's trademark department.

Oh, they probably should keep away from exceptionally gracious and portly swans, too. Just a thought, there.

It's probably useless trying to keep them away from golden showers. They're all about gold, now, it seems.

On the other hand, I'm sure it's safe to use words like sportsmanship, ethical honest loyal competition and effort... higher ethical and moral ideals. Competition and prizes for athletes, as humans - not countries.

They have been substituted by crass commercialism and burocratic corporativism.

Something real high priests - and a god or few - might have a protest or two about.

Oh BTW.
If I put several (or 2010) illuminated heart-shaped snowglobes - or images thereof - bearing "MMX" in writing on or around them. Does that mean they'll come after me in my uncle's plantation in the mountains ? Just dreaming, but... ;p
   

Stupid Canadians

[oobdeoo]

.....Would expect no less from a simple country - what with their socialized medicine, clean cities, low crime rate and tough gun-control laws. Any money-hungry conglomerate should be able to get whatever they want out of those backwards hosers.

This protection of brand nonsense

[sleeponthemic]

Wayyy over the top. During (and still) the Olympics, the level of removal of Olympic content of video sites was astronomical. It is still basically impossible to find highlights of Olympic events on youtube or anything like that*, despite the fact that the content was delivered to us completely free and really isn't marketed for post-event dvd purchasing.

(There was a knockout in the boxing that was particularly amusing - lots of people talking about it, nobody with any links).

Re:This protection of brand nonsense

[corsec67]

This. I was looking for the Usain Bolt 100 meter run, and all I saw on youtube was just some very odd spam.
And then the official news sites had some very stupid media players that didn't work for me.

Myself...

[NotQuiteReal]

... and like minded folks, look forward to the Winter of 2010, with glowing hearts, to ignore another two weeks of bad network TV.

glowing hearts versus hearts all a glow

[TXISDude]

that is the next step, end Christmas - with that silly poem, ". . . and their hearts all a glow, will find it hard to sleep tonight. They know that Santa is on his way . . . " it is all a conspiracy against all good things of winter (oops, will pay the fine) and snow (oops, again) Seriously, they need a chance to protect their financial interests, but based on their past performance, when will someone step up and say: "Enough, and NO"

STFU!

[Anonymous Coward]

Shut your fucking face, uncle fucker
Youre a cocksucking, ass-liking, uncle fucker
Youre an uncle fucker, yes its true
Nobody fucks UncleSAM just like you

Shut your fucking face, uncle fucker
Youre the one that fucks your uncle-uncle fucker
You dont even sleep or mow the lawm
You fuck UncleSAM all day long

(USPTO: whats goin' on here?)

Shut youre fucking face, uncle fucker
Youre a boner bitting bastard, uncle fucker
Youre an uncle fucker, i must say
You fucked UncleSAM yesterday!

Uncle fucker, thats u-n-c-l-e, fuck you!
Uncle fucker!

over-winter(r) my glowing balls(tm)!

It affects an american band

[lordofthechia]

"The list includes the number 2010"

Bad Religion has a hit song called 10 in 2010. Wonder if they'll get a notice next?

No big deal.

[Anonymous Coward]

The Canadians can just use their other 199 words for "winter" in the meantime.

Touching rendition ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Brought tears to my eyes ... and soda out my nose.

Seriously, this sucks, and I'm not even Canadian. Fuck the god-damned Olympics, may the next 10 be dismal money-losing failures. I just made it through the last Olympiad watching 0 minutes of news coverage. Drop dead, IOC.

It's used to permit them to charge fraudsters

[Anonymous Coward]

What nobody has mentioned is that these trademarks are used to permit them to legally combat those who would peddle fraudulent merchandise. If "2010 Olympics" weren't trademarked, anyone could start making Olympic merchandise. They're not going to start suing kids singing the national anthem for crying out loud.

Re:It's used to permit them to charge fraudsters

[EvilErik]

Isn't being able to print "2010 Olympics" on anything you like and sell it the generally approved Slashdot libertarian free market way?

What should be said...

[RulerOf]

...is that anyone in any position with any capability of enforcing this who actually does so should be shot.

With glowing farts

[istartedi]

Problem solved. Sounds almost exactly the same.

Re:With glowing farts

[Tablizer]

Isn't that the Mythbusters' theme song?

I guess...

[Tromeo]

... radiation really did make them an enemy of civilization after all.

Not to worry

[oo7tushar]

There were several interviews with members of the organizing committee and in each one they stated:

1) Yes, people are already using the phrase in other places.
2) They do not plan on suing people willy nilly.
3) They are using it specifically for the purpose of protecting against rip off merchandise and unauthorized use specifically with the games.

I'm not concerned about this outside of the games as we're small enough and have enough loud smart people that any misuse will result in an outcry. After all, consider what happens any time there's new copyright legislation? Prof Geist tells everybody and an article makes it to the front page of /.

In other news:

[Anonymous Coward]

Arthur C. Clarke renames one of his fiction "Year of the sports event organized by butthead committee".

Uh guys, this story is bullshit.

[Anonymous Coward]

The IOC (International Olympic Committee) has nothing to do with this story. They are not threatening anyone with any thing in this instance.

The trademarks being discussed are held by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee.

The lines "With glowing hearts" from the English version and "Des plus brillants exploits" from the French version are to be the Olympic mottoes for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Trademarking a motto for use at a large event and in marketing it is normal and seldom harmful. If you aren't seen as trying to make a nickel by associating your goods/service with the Olympics then the trademark would not apply.

Also, these are trademarks not patents so prior art is not relevant. And the use of the phrases in other contexts is fair game as always.

Tempest in a Teacup.

The BoingBoing article pointed to actually uses the phrase 'The Canadian IOC' ... Jesus, does he read this shit before he posts it?

I now return you to your regularly scheduled misinformed wank-fest.

Kevin

Prior Art

[Tablizer]

"Glowing Hearts" has been used by uranium-lab rodent researchers from the 1940's.

Guess who will not attend the 2010 Olympics

[future assassin]

Me and everyone one I know and everyone they know. I will make sure tomorrow morning all of my co workers will hear about this and I will make them not attend the Olympic$

I thought it was "God Save the Queen"

[Iowan41]

I guess not, well, they oughta change it to "Northwest Passage" anyway. . .

Not in this lifetime

[Sentry21]

I'm glad we're hosting the Olympics, I'm glad it's going to bring people to Vancouver and see the city, and I'm glad we're facing huge transportation infrastructure upgrades as a result.

But this? No. Go fuck yourselves you righteous cocks.

Trademark whatever the hell else you want, trademark your own names or the names of all the athletes, trademark circles and colours and whatever other bullshit you want, but you're not, in this lifetime, going to misappropriate OUR NATIONAL FUCKING ANTHEM.

So yeah. DIAF, kthx.

Really?

[gowen]

How is this different from McDonalds owning "I'm Loving It", or Nike's "Just Do It" -- both common phrases in everyday use. No-ones getting sued for saying "I'm loving this new DVD player" to their friends or "'I'm thinking of going on a shooting spree'. 'Just do it, Dylan'."

Trademarks are incredibly limited in scope. They're not claiming exclusive rights to the word "winter", just commercial use of that word in a context like "Vancouver Winter Games".

Ever noticed that "Gnome" is a trademark of the Gnome Foundation, but no-one is running round suing writers of fairy tales.

And in other news...

[Amazing Quantum Man]

Arthur C. Clarke's estate and MGM are suing the IOC for unauthorized use of the number "2010".

Re:And in other news...

[Amazing Quantum Man]

I'm an idiot. Clarke isn't dead yeat. Drop the "'s estate".

Re:And in other news...

[bint]

Leave it in, he is dead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

Re:And in other news...

[Amazing Quantum Man]

OK, I'm really an idiot. Let's leave it at that :-P

Not to mention...

[Amazing Quantum Man]

MGM and Arthur C. Clarke.

And in other news, in Canada, the year that everywhere else is known as 2010 will hereafter be known as "the year between 2009 and 2011".

Re:Continued IOC Actions Will Engender Public Outr

[gwait]

Somehow "whiplash" and "slashdot comments" don't go together well...

Hah! Take that IOC. I flame you! Wait till I twitter all my friends- feel the sting of my keyboard!

(See what I mean, no real punch to it..)

Oh oh

[martin-boundary]

You think that's funny? My TV has just turned itself on by itself, and now it's showing the words

IOC: ALL THESE WORDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT 2010. ATTEMPT NO OLYMPICS THERE.

This is going to end badly.

A Space Oddity

[Hal XP]

Clarke's estate vs. the Olympic Committee? They could sue each other then. Clarke's last novel deals about the first Lunar Olympic Games (previously covered here on). On the other hand, this could be worth a good sponsorship deal.

I guess noone RTFA'd the article linked from TFA?

[Trolan]

From http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/09/25/bc-vancouver-olympics-trademark-o-canada.html which is the source linked to from the BoingBoing article:

"The phrases were recently trademarked by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee in anticipation of the announcement, it was revealed Wednesday."

Not a Monopoly on Words

[duyn]

I stopped reading the blog post after:

The IOC is a corrupt, bullying, greedy, hypocritical organization that uses trademark laws to limit the free speech and commerce of people who have the misfortune to attend or live near the games.

If I want knee-jerk rhetoric, I'll browse Digg, thank you very much. The Editors would have done better to link to the original CBC article.

From the CBC article:

VANOC said it has no desire to own the phrases and VANOC's use of the mottoes in no way changes how the national anthem is used by Canadians.

VANOC would only challenge the commercial use of the mottoes if a business began using them to create a specific, unauthorized commercial association with the 2010 Winter Games, said the statement.

This is only a trademark. You can still use the words/phrases as much as you want insofar as it's not connected to the 2010 Olympics. They're just trying to cut down on people cashing in on the Olympics without permission.

Whether they should be doing that is another debate. Personally, I think it goes against the spirit of the Games; but if you put a truck load of money into creating something, it's your right to decide how much of an asshole you want to be about sharing it.

The Olympic Games may be an imperfect representation of the ideals it is meant to embody, but it's still one of the few symbols regular people rally around. Abandoning it wholesale would be counterproductive—we'd just end up reducing the mindshare of these ideals in the minds of rich, well-off (compared to the rest of the world) people. Rather, we should look at how we can bring it back on track with all the things it's meant to signify to the world.

Having said that, I smell a Constitutional challenge in the wings. If they had to get a piece of legislation passed to enable this, that legislation just might be unconstitutional.

I don't know anything about Canadian law, but in Australia we had a similar case, Davis v Commonwealth in 1988. The government were all antsy about Australia's upcoming bicentenary (yes, Australia is that young) so they passed legislation banning the use of phrases like "Bicentenary", "200 years", "Australia" and "Founding" without licence from the bureaucracy.[1] It was struck down in our High Court as not being "reasonably appropriate and adapted" to achieving the end goal of celebrating the bicentennial.

Now, this situation is weaker in that they are not banning all uses, just the ones relating to the Olympics. But then, if it took a piece of legislation to get it done, the legislation may have overstepped the boundary of what's appropriate. I hear you guys have a Bill of Rights, something which Australia never had, which should help make the case stronger.

---- Footnotes ----

[1] Australian Bicentennial Authority Act 1980 (Cth) s 22, para (d) of the definition of Authority.

I will have to see Shakespere in a Canadian Theatr

[Chrisq]

Now is the "season that comes after autumn" of discontent made summer by this son of York.

So switch back to "The Maple Leaf Forever"

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a better song anyways.

People trapped in glass houses should throw stones

[I cant believe its n]

Demitri Marten's excellent take on the whole glass house issue

Copyrights and Trademarks are so stupid

[startxxx]

Let it go bureaucrats! Trademarks don't exist anywhere else in nature. Trademarks and copyrights are counter survival. Evolution is based on improvements. Smart people can't waste all their creative energy on explaining retards why prohibition of recreation is an insanity. We need to split out the free world and let the bureaucrats try to live on their own for a while. Those dinosaur minded "S" clowns up there are getting our money for making this circus. According to the UN human rights laws, every human is entitled the right to be treated as a person. It's not a liability, it's a right. One should be allowed to dis-person. It's time to make a country for smart people in a world of too many too old ideas.

So what did you expect?

[Lars T.]

After the IOC got sued because some idiots "bought" tickets for the Beijing Olympics online from "beijingticketing.com"? Yes, you heard right, the IOC got sued because a lawyer claims they didn't protect their trademark. http://www.gamesbids.com/eng/other_news/1216133744.html

They got that too!

[Roger W Moore]

The bastards are nothing if not thorough - they trademarked the French version as well - "Des plus brilliants exploits". See here.

Re:They got that too!

[denis-The-menace]

The bastards are nothing if not thorough - they trademarked the French version as well - "Des plus brilliants exploits". See here.

Why?
It translates to: "The most brilliant Exploits"
and its not in the same part of the song as "with glowing hearts".
"with glowing hearts" is at the beginning of a verse and "Des plus brilliants exploits" is at the end of a verse.
Sounds like they copyrighted the French words so that Quebec didn't feel left out.

Re:They got that too!

[Roger W Moore]

I have no idea - why did they trademark "with glowing hearts"? I can at least see how the French version is a phrase you might use in conjunction with the Olympics.

2010: Odyssey Two

[Jaysyn]

I hope Arthur C. Clarke's estate sues them for trademark dilution.

IP Club

[Jaysyn]

$10 says we'll be seeing this used against non-sponsor companies as a way to keep them totally off the air during the Olympics.

Bill C-47: The Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's the summary text of Bill C-47. I checked whether there was a recording of votes, but it passed by acclimation at the third reading, so there was no vote count taken.

Basically, there are now two trademark laws in Canada, one for ordinary businesses, and one for the Olympics.

How Can I mod down the IOC

[kj_in_ottawa]

I have 3 Mod points to burn

RFC 20357993: WOTP (early draft)

[Jesus_666]

This is an early draft for what will be released as RFC 2440723893.


THE WINTER OLYMPICS TRANSMISSION PROTOCOL

Al data transmitted during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games should be encoded as follows. Each transmission is started with the ASCII-encoded string "Screw you, IOC ". The payload is sent as a binary string with "winter " representing 0 and "2010 " representing 1. Finally the transmission ends with the string "with glowing hearts".

TODO
- Add more geeric words owned by the IOC (maybe support full hex encoding?)
- Release as RFC 28227345829

wtf

[Anonymous Coward]

W
T
F

winter winter winter winter winter

Apparently we don't worry about copyrights anyway

[gwn]

So why get your knickers in a knot over this one. We will all use it anyway and the IOC will can go luge themselves...

Quick Fix

[KiwiCanuck]

Give us a case of beer, and we'll call it even.

Bit wrong

[AdamWill]

As someone posted already, it's VANOC - the committee formed specifically to manage the Vancouver games - that's filed the trademark, not the IOC.

They've also been trying to force a local Greek restaurant called Olympia (which has been around for 20 years or so, IIRC) to change its name for a couple of years now. They're not getting anywhere with that...

Ha ha

[Anonymous Coward]

2010! 2010! 2010! 2010! 2010! ...

Only in North America

[cizoozic]

Only in North America.

Re-align the funding

[XB-70]

It is long overdue for the IOC (which is a corporation 'owned' by a European Cabal of self-serving Blue-Bloods) to be formally taken over and overseen by the UN. May I suggest that the governing body only be comprised of former (and current) Olympians - elected by former Olympians? With a revenue source of the magnitude of the Olympics, the UN might get close to supporting itself while at the same time offering a true 'World Games' run by, for and of athletes of the world.

On another note (and probably under the world's radar), Canada is having it's very own Federal election October 14th. This issue will make interesting cannon-fodder for candidate meetings. [FYI - Canadians do not use chads and get election results with 24hrs of the vote! - Ed.]

as a mixed couple...

[gobbo]

We walked into a Burger Thing in Fargo, and heads snapped around, people stopped eating... it was like walking into a saloon in a movie. That capped off the experience of the trip, somehow. It was a relief to cross the border. In the public gut response to race issues, at least, there's a huge difference between the behaviour in ND and Manitoba.

Re:as a mixed couple...

[Windows_NT]

For someone that has lived in Northern Minnesota my whole life (like 250 miles from the border?) ive really never been there. I was on Lake of the Woods Last year. We would fish on the MN side and Pee on the Canadian side... but anyway, Its not like we live in a world where we have never seen a mixed couple, or something like that. They turned there head cuz you were wearing a "I [heart] ND" shirt, and they thought you were weird.
But one thing i have noticed, from traveling around the US, There is NOTHING like a midwest girl. Try looking at crap for weeks, and then cruise into Iowa (they jsut keep getting better as you go north) As see a suburban pull up with the hott mom and her 3 beautiful blonde daughters with nice butts and nice racks. thats why i live in northern US. And im sure Canada has the same thing, but they're fuzzy

Re:as a mixed couple...

[Anonymous Coward]

There is NOTHING like a midwest girl.

Yeah, corn fed. I grew up in San Diego and live in the midwest now. There isn't any comparison. People around here get ga ga over girls that wouldn't get a second look back home... well except to wonder where the fuck they're from. I pity you that you are so out of touch with reality, but I guess if you only have low standards you really don't even know what you're missing. I guess ignorance really is bliss. But, it's still ignorance and that sucks.

The best you have to offer generally realize their value and get the fuck out of the midwest. You're left with the dregs.

Sad but true. Whine all you like it'll change nothing.

Winter of 2010

[g0bshiTe]

In the winter of 2010, we will sit as a committee, regailing ourselves with glowing hearts, at the olympians we've become.

trademark, not Copyright

[maurert]

There's a big difference between trademark and copyright. A Trademark is a mark on a item that is meant to show it's origin. It's a mark of trade that is supposed to prevent anyone from stitching a shirt together and selling it as a Prada. So in this case the IOC is saying it is going to mark its official items as "with glowing hearts" and thus doesn't anyone else printing that on shirt and caps and selling them as if they were official Olympic items.

There's nothing to prevent me to using the phrase "with glowing hearts" in literature, I just can't slap it on a shirt and sell the shirt, just like I can't slap Calvin Klein or Prada on clothing.

Now I could probably slap "Prada" on a camera and sell it as trademarks are specific to a set of related products. Think for example the name "Nationwide". There is a trucking company, an insurance company and a trailer rental company all using the trademark Nationwide, but only for their business segment.

For that manner, a sign company in the U.S. might choose to trademark the name "Star Spangled Banner", or a fireworks company trademark the name "Rocket's Red Glare." The IOC is doing what any smart marketeer would do.

O Canada...

[SYSS Mouse]

This is written in Canada, "our home and native land". "True patriot love", is in "all thy sons command". "With glowing hearts", I really hate to see this. "We see thee rise" from 1896, seeing it from Montreal, and now, 2010. We believe that Olympics in "the true north", is "strong and free" from commercialization. Everyone, "from far and wide, O Canada, we" must "stand on guard for thee" - our national anthem, from being unfairly trademarked. God Keep our land, Glorious and free O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

One more time. IT'S NOT THE IOC!!!

[swordgeek]

Folks, quit lambasting the IOC. They didn't do this. VANOC did. Go after them if you want.

Advice to a lynch mob: Get your facts straight before lighting the torches.

What will we re-name the mountain range?

[Iowan41]

And do ya think da Greeks will go along wit dis, eh?

Kooky Canada

[Nom du Keyboard]

This is hardly the first time - even the first time this week - that Canada hasn't gone kooky about common sense. Their government seems to want to sell out to all kinds of special interests from the Muslims to the Olympics. I figure that the Canadians must love this because they keep putting these people back into office while proclaiming their superiority to their nearest southern neighbor.

OK, Where's the Connection?

[LifesABeach]

"Faster, Higher, Stronger", and "with glowing hearts."

Is there going to be a new event that only the Aztec Nation could cheer at?

Slashdotted?

[LeadSongDog]

Can anyone reach the Trademark database at http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/app/cipo/trademarks/search/tmSearch.do?language=eng or is it /.'d?

Lets skip 2010!

[swrider]

Fuck 'em, lets just skip 2010 and go right to 2011. Or, do what I do. Ignore the Olymp!c$. They are nothing but outrageous profiteering by the IOC which fosters nationalistic fighting, and are totally funded off the backs of the poor in the host countries. Until they go back to nude amateur wrestlers vying for the right to wear a crown of olive branches, just ignore them.

Same as in Germany

[Anonymous Coward]

In Germany, there is the OlympSchG (http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/olympschg/index.html), the "olympic protection law" which protects the use of Olympics related terms. Funnily, this is totally redundant because Germany, too, has trademark laws that would protect these terms. But, well, you know. The "movement" and such. Just a bunch of benefactors.

"...as part of the Vancouver Games."

[alisson]

That part's important. They're basically saying you can't compete with them in their own arena.

Yes, pun intended.

It's just a fad, a foolish one

[jamessnell]

This feels extremely similar to MS's recently awarded patent for Page Up/Page Down keys. I'm sure this sort of opportunistic greed will end as a fad. We just need the first related case to hit a high enough court. Silly move by the IOC, but what'll be vastly more interesting is the laughing stock that could come out of this sort of thinking.

Mod parent troll

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously. His broken sense of humour is damned near contagious.

Is playing Legend of Zelda a trademark violation?

[CurtMonash]

If "glowing hearts" are trademarked, this could get ugly ...