In the domain name space The Olympics have been given the strongest protections including ICANN prohibiting the registration any new gTLD containing the word Olympics in it.
However in the rest of cyberspace the Olympics enjoys no such protection.
CNN just covered the “Selfie Olympics” that has been trending on Twitter.
Not only is the word Olympics being used in a way on Twitter and with Twitter handle in a way not permitted in new gTLD land, the Twitter account uses the logo includes the 5 Olympic rings.
The logo is not just used on the twitter account but in everyone of the thousands of Selfie’s that have been posted and entered into the Selfie Olympics.
Of course we have seen for many years that courts have said its perfectly fine for Google to sell ads under keywords of trademark holders to the trademark holders themselves or competitors, the same kind of conduct that would subject a domain holder to a $100,000 fine by the same federal court that allows Google to sell the ads.
One day either the laws around domain names are going to have to catch up with the rest of the online world or vice versa
Maybe it will be in 2014.
what about the urinary olympics
Just like the gTLDs, you gotta love brilliant hip and cool words like ‘selfie’. From the same people who brought you inane phrases like ‘I’m a happy camper’ and ‘He hit that one out of the park’, selfie is a word everyone can love. (Ugh.)
Meanwhile, Frida Kahlo with a bottle of tequila in one hand, would shoot anyone who called her self portraits, selfies. And Van Gogh would shoot himself. Oh, wait…
From the title: “…While ICANN Bans Registrations In New gTLD’s”
Gosh, I thought you were saying ICANN was stopping TLD applicants from pre-registering and selling domains they do not yet own. Alas.
I live near the Olympic Mountains in NW America. Businesses here sometimes get trouble for using the “Olympics” name.
Mike,
You are not accurate. “Containing” is fine. Exact match is prohibited.
http://www.icann.org/sites/default/files/packages/reserved-names/ReservedNames.xml
You can register 247olypic.anything even the more bold Olympics.anything just not Olympic.anything.
Selfieolympics.anything is not covered in the registry contract.
Selfie was named the word of the year
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/11/18/selfie-named-word-of-the-year-2013/3634727/
My comment is awaiting moderation…
My comment is just as bad as Jay’s. 😉
Nothing new there, Jay.
Michael Berkens wrote:
> Selfie was named the word of the year
Of course it was. It’s brilliant. Anyone who disagrees should shut up. Bastards.