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Chemists Make Olympic Rings On a Molecular Scale

Posted by samzenpus on from the arts-and-crafts dept.

ananyo writes "Chemists in the UK have made a five-ring polyaromatic hydrocarbon and dubbed it 'olympicene'. The molecule is just a couple of nanometers wide and can be regarded as a little fragment of graphene. Strictly speaking, of course, the molecule might constitute an 'unofficial use' of the motif and land the scientists in court for copyright infringement."

12 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Finally! by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Finally, an Olympics logo that accurately represents how little I care about the Olympics. They used to be meaningful, but they've devolved into just another international political dog and pony show.

  2. The Summer Event Police are coming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Summer Event Police will be arresting them and locking them in the Twenty Twelve containment area under Stratford.

    All worship our Penta-ringed overlords.

  3. Trademark, not copyright by bunratty · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Aren't the rings a trademark, not a copyright? Trademarks must be defended, otherwise the owner may lose the right to exclusive use of the trademark.

    --
    What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
    1. Re:Trademark, not copyright by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Don't worry. The IOC and their local corporations that sponsor the games and license the trademarks are nothing if not diligent in defending their trademarks. When the winter olympics were held here in Vancouver in 2010, much to my dismay, they scanned the city and sent out letters to any business that had any word like olympic in it that they were infringing on their trademarks and had to desist. Poor old Olympic Pizza. They'd been in business for over 30 years under that name but now THEY were infringing. The copyright laws even were amended so that sentences with the words or phrases with the following strings in close proximity were copyright protected to the VOC; 2010, olympic, winter, and a number of sports names.

      Dog and pony show where the venues are selected not by whether the community really wants/needs/can afford to host the games but by how much swag the selection committee can take away from that town. Our city and the local taxpayers are on the hook for almost $500 million for the real estate blunder that started as the place where the athletes were to be housed. And I don't want to know how much it cost to truck and helicopter in all the snow from the interior to blanket the mountains deep enough for the events to be held. What a waste. It sickens me every time I see a sign still up boasting about how Vancouver hosted the 2010 winter olympics. If it weren't for family concerns, I'd move to Owl's Anus, Alberta. Sorry, that turned into a rant but it felt very good to get it said. If anyone reading this ever gets a chance to speak out against or otherwise block their city from hosting an olympics, do it.

    2. Re:Trademark, not copyright by Zorpheus · · Score: 4, Informative

      They actually did in 1995, but without success. Just found this as a reference on wikipedia: http://www.autoevolution.com/news/audi-reveals-updated-logo-10315.html

  4. They get the gold in the nerd olympics by _0x783czar · · Score: 5, Funny

    now can they make a microscopic torch and a nano bot to carry it?

    --
    ~theCzar
  5. Hardcoded famous trademark by tepples · · Score: 4, Informative

    As I understand it, countries that have hosted the Olympic Games have to treat the rings and other IOC symbols as hardcoded famous trademarks, with sui generis restrictions that parallel the dilution restrictions on famous trademarks.

    1. Re:Hardcoded famous trademark by camperdave · · Score: 4, Informative

      The olympic rings were designed in 1912, not -775

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  6. Doubly sad by quacking+duck · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The first thing I thought as soon as I read the first sentence was that the Olympic authorities would be all over them. The second was seeing that the submitter had also thought the same thing.

    Just another indication of how badly the Olympics have been corrupted--and how they in turn corrupt the IP laws of host countries like a cancer.

  7. close, except the olympic rings... by doug141 · · Score: 4, Informative

    interlock, instead of sharing edges.

  8. Rather apt by bazmail · · Score: 4, Funny

    Rather apt i'd say considering so many of the athletes are chemistry buffs themselves. I care not a jot.

  9. It's time to disband the IOC and reboot the games. by aristotle-dude · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think the IOC has strayed way too far from the original principles of the olympic games and it might be time to reboot the games.

    We all have a responsibility to "vote" with our wallets and eyes by refusing to buy anything related to the olympics and to not watch the games. Stop the madness and save the original spirit of the games. The games were supposed to be about amateur sport, not money.

    --
    Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.