This Is the Main Event for Olympic Trademark Lawyers, Too

“Can I use the Olympic rings?” tops the list of frequently asked questions on the International Olympic Committee’s website. Those five rings—along with the flame and words such as “Olympic,” “Olympiad,” and “Paralympic”—are registered trademarks owned by the global organizing body and upheld by national committees.

In fact, any nation that aspires to host the Olympics must first pass statutes protecting the trademarks; Russia’s took effect in 2007, while the U.S. law has been in place since 1978. “We try to tell people that the word ‘Olympics’ is not just a word that means competition,” says Kelly Maser, an intellectual-property attorney with the U.S. Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs whose job includes fielding the steady stream of requests from those seeking to use the sacred word.