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"During the Olympics", she said with a sneer "your site can't use an Olympian's name even if they use your gear." Something makes me think that wouldn't hold u

by Zak 17y ago

"During the Olympics", she said with a sneer "your site can't use an Olympian's name even if they use your gear." Something makes me think that wouldn't hold up in court. You can't copyright a fact.

pmjordan 17y ago
I don't understand the exact legal background, but I assumed this was a trademark issue: before being able to compete, the athletes presumably have to sign their names away for the duration of the games such that the official sponsors get exclusive rights to use them.
cduan 17y ago
You're right that you can't copyright facts, and at any rate you can't copyright short phrases like names. But this is a trademark or right of publicity question, not a copyright question. Copyright deals with rights in written works. Trademark is about rights to brand names and marks on products. Rights of publicity are about using famous people's names and likenesses without authorization. I don't know much about right of publicity, but as far as trademark goes at least, there is this exception known as "nominative use," which basically allows you to use a trademark to refer to a product, so long as it doesn't look like you are using the name to market your own products. This is what allows you to use a trademarked product name in a review, for example. My guess is that, in this case, the company could have pushed back a bit on the IOC's blanket warning. Nominative use (which, incidentally, is backed by the First Amendment) would at least protect the right to report newsworthy events about Olympians. But if the company's reports start to look more like product endorsements or marketing pitches, it would become a different question.
- Zak 17y ago
  Endorsements are another issue entirely, but there's something very wrong with the legal system if there are any limitations on accurately stating that $athlete used $product during $event.
proemeth 17y ago
Unfortunately it seems you can copyright numbers. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1045150 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1045150

by Zak 17y ago

"During the Olympics", she said with a sneer "your site can't use an Olympian's name even if they use your gear." Something makes me think that wouldn't hold up in court. You can't copyright a fact.

pmjordan 17y ago

I don't understand the exact legal background, but I assumed this was a trademark issue: before being able to compete, the athletes presumably have to sign their names away for the duration of the games such that the official sponsors get exclusive rights to use them.

cduan 17y ago

You're right that you can't copyright facts, and at any rate you can't copyright short phrases like names. But this is a trademark or right of publicity question, not a copyright question. Copyright deals with rights in written works. Trademark is about rights to brand names and marks on products. Rights of publicity are about using famous people's names and likenesses without authorization. I don't know much about right of publicity, but as far as trademark goes at least, there is this exception known as "nominative use," which basically allows you to use a trademark to refer to a product, so long as it doesn't look like you are using the name to market your own products. This is what allows you to use a trademarked product name in a review, for example. My guess is that, in this case, the company could have pushed back a bit on the IOC's blanket warning. Nominative use (which, incidentally, is backed by the First Amendment) would at least protect the right to report newsworthy events about Olympians. But if the company's reports start to look more like product endorsements or marketing pitches, it would become a different question.

Zak 17y ago
Endorsements are another issue entirely, but there's something very wrong with the legal system if there are any limitations on accurately stating that $athlete used $product during $event.

proemeth 17y ago

Unfortunately it seems you can copyright numbers. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1045150 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1045150