• elooto@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    46
    ·
    1 year ago

    The Olympics did send a cease and desist to Olympic Provisions (a salami maker in Portland, Oregon). So they had to change their name to Olympia Provisions. Perhaps the Olympics felt threatened since people often confuse ‘finocchiona salami’ with ‘finishing a giant slalom’.

    • bermuda@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah I should have also mentioned that that doesn’t prevent companies from trying that kind of bullshit.

    • UnhappyCamper@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      My vet clinic I work at was contacted by Red Cross some years ago damanding that we change our logo becuase it had a red plus sign in it. It was the most ridiculous thing. How did they even find out about us? we are no big time clinic, only people in our city are going to know who we are. We had that logo for a long, long time. It was just bizarre.

      • Irina@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        I don’t think Red Cross is going off trademark law; using the Red Cross for anything but the Red Cross (same for the Red Crescent and Red Crystal) is a violation of international law (i.e. the Geneva Convention)

        • chaogomu@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          1 year ago

          You would think that, but no. It’s specifically the Red Cross organization. Which is an international organization.

          It can also be used by militaries and such for Geneva Convention complaint medical use, such as search and rescue operations or medical centers and such.

          That’s it. Those are the only legally allowed uses. And even Geneva Convention complaint medical use is often run by the international organization.

        • TheHalc
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Nope. There’s a reason they go after video games that use the red cross symbol for health packs, that dilutes the meaning of what the red cross stands for.

        • UnhappyCamper@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          That’s what we had thought too. Also the fact that it was a really generic looking red plus sign. How can someone trademark a symbol used by everyone? I guess if it wasn’t red, it would have been fine. There was a lot of scoffing going on in clinic.

    • geissi@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Doesn’t necessarily mean the Olympics were in their right.
      More likely that the salami maker wanted to avoid / could not afford a legal battle.