Denigrating the Olympics One Stitch at a Time

June 20, 2012 3:49 PM

The knitosphere is in an uproar after being needled by a US Olympic Committee law clerk who thought it would be a good idea to tell Ravelry to cease using the word "Ravelympics" to describe their summer 2012 knitting marathon for trademark infringement, and because it "tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games". (Last link requires a Ravelry account, but the full text of the letter is here.)
posted by jjray (74 comments total)

The true nature of the Olympic Game of beeing constant legal action and legal strongarming.
posted by Artw at 3:52 PM on June 20, 2012 [18 favorites]

But what about the Laff-a-Lympics? Why were they never sued? Frankly, I'd think that was more likely to insult real athletes. Not that I think for a second the Olympics is really doing this for any reason other than protecting their copyright turf. The fact that it pisses off a bunch of people who were planning to watch and celebrate the damn Olympics just adds another layer of stupid.
posted by emjaybee at 4:01 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh, man. You don't want to piss off knitters. They are organized and they are legion.
posted by synecdoche at 4:02 PM on June 20, 2012 [36 favorites]

The cease-and-desist letter was signed by a summer intern who hasn't yet completed his law degree. I wonder if anyone more senior at the USOC reviewed this before it was sent. One would hope that a more seasoned staffer would have excised the inflammatory and unnecessary "denigration" remarks.
posted by brain_drain at 4:06 PM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

MetaFilterLympics.

Are we sued yet?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:07 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best Tweet of the Week: "I'm going to add the suffix "-lympics" to everything to keep @USOlympic's legal team busy. You should too! ‪#ravelympics‬ ‪#coolstorybrolympics‬" I'm expecting the Twitter Masses to embrace this thoroughly...

#twitterlympics
#hashtaglympics
#yomamalympics
#carollalympics
#itssohotlympics
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:08 PM on June 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

hippybear, the last link says courts have ruled the Olympics has the right to exclusive use of the word:

In 1982, the "Gay Olympics" were sued and the United States Supreme Court ruled that the USOC had exclusive rights to the word Olympics, and anything vaguely related to the word "Olympics".
posted by mediareport at 4:08 PM on June 20, 2012

> Oh, man. You don't want to piss off knitters. They are organized and they are legion.

And they have lots of needles. Let the poking begin!
posted by mosk at 4:09 PM on June 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

From the last link--I am reposting this because I have a hard time believing someone wrote this without ironic intent*:

"We believe using the name 'Ravelympics' for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games. In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country's finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work."

I like participating in knitting challenges AND I respect Olympic athletes too, but now according to the US Olympic Committee's general counsel I can't do both at the same time. Hmm, what to do?

Ah, compromise: continue to enjoy knitting challenges, continue to respect Olympic athletes, but lose last shreds of respect for the USOC.

*on preview: After reading brain_drain's comment, I think maybe it was written with ironic intent.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:09 PM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

these damn knitters better hope my ecstasy dealer doesn't get wind of this
posted by facetious at 4:11 PM on June 20, 2012

You know what really tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic games?

The true nature of the Olympic games. That's what.
posted by koeselitz at 4:11 PM on June 20, 2012 [28 favorites]

...and we shouldn't do MetaFilterLympics, it should be the MeFiLympics^{© copyright 2012 ME! Bwahahaha!}
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:12 PM on June 20, 2012

Of course, ImprovOlympics (Now iO) learned in 2005 that they weren't allowed to call themselves that after like 20 years of flying under the radar.

First, they came for the improvisers, but I said nothing because I was an improviser and thought the name was kind of dumb...
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:13 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Why does the USOC have to be so knit-picky?

*runs away*
posted by resurrexit at 4:14 PM on June 20, 2012 [7 favorites]

Now I wlonder if this letter will go viral and millions of people the world over will think the US Olympic committee a bunch of precious cockheads? Probably.
posted by mattoxic at 4:18 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

mediareport: “hippybear, the last link says courts have ruled the Olympics has the right to exclusive use of the word: ‘In 1982, the ‘Gay Olympics’ were sued and the United States Supreme Court ruled that the USOC had exclusive rights to the word Olympics, and anything vaguely related to the word ‘Olympics’.’”

Anyone who cares about the gay rights movement probably should see a very fine documentary that was made in 2009 about that fight. It's called Claiming The Title: Gay Olympics On Trial.
posted by koeselitz at 4:19 PM on June 20, 2012 [5 favorites]

Could we call them the Ancient Ravelypics and claim that we aren't referring to the current games?
posted by muddgirl at 4:28 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

You know what really tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic games?

Synchronized swimming?
posted by BitterOldPunk at 4:38 PM on June 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

Good article from BusinessWeek about why the IOC is so vigilant about this. Short answer: companies pay a lot of money to be "official sponsors" of the games. The IOC won't be able to sell this lucrative sponsorship if other companies can unofficially piggyback off the event:

To keep the money flowing in from official sponsorships—the IOC’s second-biggest source of revenue behind broadcasting rights —Olympic organizers have to promise to keep competitors from crashing the party. That means getting host countries to play bouncer. “When you bid to host an Olympic Games,” says Simon Chadwick, a professor of sports business at Coventry University in England, “you must, and that’s in capital letters underlined, guarantee to pass legislation outlawing ambush marketing and protecting against any trademark infringement.”

posted by Guernsey Halleck at 4:44 PM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

So what exactly is the true nature of the Olympics?

Is it just displacing poor people? Because that would be awesome if somehow that got denigrated.
posted by broadway bill at 4:44 PM on June 20, 2012 [11 favorites]

Well, if the USOC really wants to talk about people who are ripping off a name and a resonant tradition, why don't we have a little conversation about what the USOC and other national committees are doing to Greece and the Greeks?

The Greeks started the whole thing and gave it its immense prestige and cultural capital, and by any legitimate characterization of justice, it still belongs to them.

And in case you haven't noticed, USOC et. al., the Greek people could use a little of the billions you will appropriate to yourselves this summer.

I'd like to see an international movement to return the Olympics to Greece permanently.

It's theirs by right, and the huge infusion of cash every four years would stabilize their economy and raise the standard of living of their people-- who are suffering mainly because of the depredations of American and European bankers.
posted by jamjam at 4:52 PM on June 20, 2012 [22 favorites]

The true nature of the Olympic games is steroidal.
posted by LogicalDash at 4:57 PM on June 20, 2012

This is what Ravelry did to the last man who denigrated knitting.

I think the Olympic committee better watch out, or they're going to get swaddled in attractive knitwear.
posted by BrashTech at 5:09 PM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

All of the Olympics related committees really seem to compete hard to be gold medalist jerkbags every four years. I'm surprised they haven't sued the state of Washington for Olympic National Park yet.
posted by BostonEnginerd at 5:10 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I was wondering if this was going to show up. The letter's author suggested that the event be renamed "The Ravelry Games," which has led to quite a few Hunger Games ideas.

I remember the USOC banhammers during the '96 Atlanta Games; this is the third Ravelympics and I'm kind of surprised that this has taken six years. I have vanishingly little respect for the USOC/IOC, who care far more about licensing revenue than they do about amateur sport.
posted by catlet at 5:10 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh, man. You don't want to piss off knitters. They are organized and they are legion.
posted by synecdoche at 4:02 PM on June 20

And they have pointy sticks!!
posted by sadtomato at 5:12 PM on June 20, 2012

So what exactly is the true nature of the Olympics?

Corporate sponsorship, apparently.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:13 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I really despise the Olympics. Not what it should be like, but what it has become. I do not think I have watched as single event in more than a decade because it is just one big commercial.

fwiw, the following domains are available just to name a few.......

www.imsosickoftheolympics.com
www.imsosickoftheusoc.com
www.usocknuckleheads.com
www.usocknucklehead.com
www.theusocsucks.com
www.usocsucks.com
www.theusocwillsueyou.com
www.theusochateseveryone.com
www.theolympicsarenotworthit.com
posted by lampshade at 5:13 PM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Of course, everyone knows that the true nature of the olympics is to be realised through crochet, not knitting.
posted by pompomtom at 5:16 PM on June 20, 2012 [5 favorites]

The Olympics has had events like etchings and engravings, poetry, sculpture and so on in the not-so-distant past. Knitting should be ADDED.
posted by lazaruslong at 5:22 PM on June 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

I can't believe the Office of the General Counsel of the USOC let a law student send a letter like that on its behalf. Notice that in the opening paragraph, the letter names a "colleague," who in turn appears to be a paralegal for the USOC. Were there no actual lawyers willing to put their name on letters? Shameful.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 5:32 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'll never forgive the Olympics for making me buy all those sleeves for my Legends of the Five Rings cards.

BAYUSHI TANGEN DOES NOT FORGET!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:39 PM on June 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

Oh, man. You don't want to piss off knitters. They are organized and they are legion.

Since when does the Olympics care about pissing people off?

Anyway, my understanding is that the word "Olympics" is actually protected by a special law, not ordinary trademark law (I think). There are special exemptions if you're near Olympic national park which was named before that law was put in place.

I'm not sure if that extends to *lympics but I would imagine it probably does since you hardly ever hear it used.

It's stupid, I agree. Especially since it's not like a normal trademark where they came up with the name. They just took a common, historical name by legislative fiat. However, legally they probably have a case. I guess? I'm not sure.

I looked it up and the governing law is the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 not regular trademark law. ("amateur", yeah right)

They knitting community may be, ahem, tight-knight but they are not going to be able to defeat a billion dollar weird hybrid corporate/non-profit NGO with so much pull with governments all over the world that they have no trouble getting special laws written just for them pretty much everywhere.
posted by delmoi at 5:44 PM on June 20, 2012

You know what really tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic games?

Corporations sticking their grubby fingers in everything and performance enhancing drugs, maybe?
posted by BlueHorse at 5:58 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think it just pisses them off that it's a community event where no money is changing hands, so the USOC can't take their cut off the top.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 6:07 PM on June 20, 2012

You know what really who else tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic games?

This one's easy.
posted by invitapriore at 6:08 PM on June 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

The knitosphere

Like the Death Star, but can only attack by overheating you and/or intermittently discharging static electricity.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 6:10 PM on June 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

The Olympics has had events like etchings and engravings, poetry, sculpture and so on in the not-so-distant past.

When?
posted by Flunkie at 6:10 PM on June 20, 2012

You know who else tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic games?

Knitler and the 1938 Munich Ravelympics?
posted by Artw at 6:14 PM on June 20, 2012 [12 favorites]

I pity the fools at the USOC....pity the fools. One mustn't tread upon either the knit or the perl!
posted by pdxjmorris at 6:18 PM on June 20, 2012

Artw, I blame you for the beer in my lap.
posted by invitapriore at 6:26 PM on June 20, 2012

Knitler ruins everything.
posted by Artw at 6:28 PM on June 20, 2012

Yes, we would hate for someone to accidentally sponsor purling instead of curling.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:32 PM on June 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

You know, I really wanted Chicago to get the Olympics because I wanted the whole world to see what an awesome city it is, but following the run-up to London 2012 I've just been like, "Thank God that didn't work out."

Because Al Capone is one thing, but even Chicago isn't prepared for the gangsters who run the IOC.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:48 PM on June 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

And, Gawker. (It's mostly excerpts from the USOC letter, a tweet, and a couple of blog comments.)
posted by catlet at 6:57 PM on June 20, 2012

I looked it up and the governing law is the Amateur Sports Act of 1978

The Wikipedia article on the 1987 San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee case has more on the decision and the dissents. The documentary looks great, too.
posted by mediareport at 7:06 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

How about "The Games of the LXVIIIth Stitchlympiad"?
posted by kurumi at 7:11 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I suspect the only reason that the Ravelympics lasted as long as it did was because Ravelry has long been a closed community that you couldn't see much of without an account. No Google indexing means you fly pretty low under the radar.

Rav's code monkey is MeFi member caseyf. He has said on Ravelry that they don't intend to fight the name change, as they regard that as kind of a waste of time and money. It would almost certainly be doomed to fail anyway - the legal precedent on this stuff is really clear.

I'm not surprised that this happened, and I wouldn't even be annoyed by it, if the lawyer wannabe hadn't felt the need to take potshots at knitting in what would have been a pretty straightforward document. Nobody who participates in the Ravelympics imagines it is the equivalent of competing in the Olympics. It isn't even a competition. It is much like NaNoWriMo, in that you win by finishing. It is an exercise in Olympic fandom, not an attempt to coot the Olympics.

Like so many things involving big brands, the Internet and intellectual property related law, the result is a bunch off fans feeling really disaffected and disconnected from something they were trying to celebrate. That's a real shame - I like the Olymoics a lot more when they don't go out of their way to remind me that they are a huge business rather than a chance to wear red maple leaf mittens and cry while they play O Canada.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:06 PM on June 20, 2012 [8 favorites]

The whole reason, and the only reason, for the IOC is so that something can be more corrupt than FIFA.
posted by eriko at 8:09 PM on June 20, 2012 [12 favorites]

Nobody who participates in the Ravelympics imagines it is the equivalent of competing in the Olympics. It isn't even a competition. It is much like NaNoWriMo, in that you win by finishing. It is an exercise in Olympic fandom, not an attempt to coot the Olympics.

The last thing the Olympic committee wants is for people to be fans without paying! I seem to recall that in some past games they actually banned athletes from blogging about the events lest they compete with paid sponsors.
posted by delmoi at 8:43 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

God, this is jerky. And makes me want to not watch the Olympics.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:07 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Knot-winned.
posted by jaruwaan at 9:29 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

You know who else tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic games?

Lisa Simpson doing something pornographic?

Oh wait, never mind, that's actually their official logo.
posted by wenat at 9:49 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm not surprised. I knew the Robogames were originally the Robolympics, until the organizers (and their employers) got cease & desist letters.
posted by Pronoiac at 12:17 AM on June 21, 2012

Hmmm. I'm not joking when I say that I know a few athletes, Olympians among them, who are also fierce knitters - it's a relaxing thing to do when not training and a cheap way to make clothing. I also know many more athletes who absolutely despise their respective Olympic committees! So there's that.
posted by jimmythefish at 12:56 AM on June 21, 2012

Ugh, this makes me so annoyed. You know, I was just starting to get over the inconvenience, lack of planning and commercialism and enjoy the festivities (national flags just went up around Bond street, quite nice) but as a long time knitter and long time Ravelry member I've gone right back to hating the entire operation. I think the athletes are amazing, but just the entire machine and corporate entity that it has become disgusts me.
posted by like_neon at 2:05 AM on June 21, 2012

GuernseyHalleck has it. LOCOG over here in the UK are very very very stringent about protecting trademarks, which means that not only are visitors to the Olympic Park only able to eat at McDonalds or use Visa cards, but also that any advertisers or companies that mention the Games in a way that suggests an association will be told not to do so. I'm not really able to go into specifics as it's part of my job and I'm wary of saying things I shouldn't, but you know how during a big sporting event companies want to play it up, doing ads for drinks during the football or getting behind the national team etc? Only the official sponsors can do that stuff with the Olympics.

However, I did see this on sale in a bookshop which surprised me.
posted by mippy at 3:43 AM on June 21, 2012

The Olympics and their relationship with crafters is already a sore spot for many knitters, after the problems with the Woolsack project.
posted by Gordafarin at 3:57 AM on June 21, 2012

Knitting clearly denigrates the true nature of the Olympic Games, as exemplified by it's wonderful present and past events. Such as live pigeon shooting.
posted by iotic at 5:22 AM on June 21, 2012

Zeus called, he says Olympia is trademarked and if you don't cease and desist the use all derivations of Olympia he will rain lightning down on your silly games.
posted by JJ86 at 7:11 AM on June 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Ravelry members are not very fond of Olympic committees. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Canadians members went ballistic when they found out that the Canadian Olympic committee copied a traditional Cowichan design, failed to give credit to the tribe, shipped the design to be knitted in China. The excuse? There were too many sweaters needed and the committee did not think that the Cowichan women could do that. After it was proved to them that the Cowichans could knit this sweater in 12 hours the committee relented and gave the tribe at least part of the order.


I am a longtime Ravelry member
posted by francesca too at 7:40 AM on June 21, 2012 [6 favorites]

Here is a splendid letter from the Crochet Liberation Front that gets right to the heart of the matter.
posted by MaritaCov at 8:16 AM on June 21, 2012

I refer to it as the "yarnosphere" since I both knit and crochet. I welcome everyone.

Anyway, back to the douchiness of this: Not only is the copyright thing annoying, this dude really had to slam the entire idea? Why on earth would anyone find the idea of a fake yarn competition offensive? What athlete is going to bitch about that? Not everyone can be The Elite, but it gives the people something to do at home to get in the spirit.

I've done the Ravelympics for the last several times, but now I kinda don't want to. Or watch the Olympics either.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:35 AM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

And they have pointy sticks!!

I'm all over this.
posted by pointystick at 8:40 AM on June 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

Oh man am I glad the USOC never got wind of the Beerlympics of 2000 in east campus Columbia, MO. That was the largest such games that had ever occurred since 1999 and CLEARLY denigrated most things, especially good taste, balance, and coordination.
posted by schyler523 at 9:23 AM on June 21, 2012

Statement from USOC Spokesperson.

"Thanks to all of you who have posted, tweeted, emailed and called regarding the letter sent to the organizers of the Ravelympics.
Like you, we are extremely passionate about what we do. And, as you may know, the United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit entity, and our Olympic team receives no government funding. We are totally dependent on our sponsors, who pay for the right to associate with the Olympic Movement, as well as our generous donors to bring Team USA to the Games.
The letter sent to the organizers of the Ravelympics was a standard-form cease and desist letter that explained why we need to protect our trademarks in legal terms. Rest assured, as an organization that has many passionate knitters, we never intended to make this a personal attack on the knitting community or to suggest that knitters are not supportive of Team USA.
We apologize for any insult and appreciate your support. We embrace hand-crafted American goods as we currently have the Annin Flagmakers of New Jersey stitching a custom-made American flag to accompany our team to the Olympic Games in London. To show our support of the Ravelry community, we would welcome any handmade items that you would like to create to travel with, and motivate, our team at the 2012 Games.”

1. Well, technically that's legal and fair, even if it still sucks.
2. No, that wasn't a standardized form at all. It was quite specific and rude.
3. I am willing to believe that the folks who didn't write the letter are less offended by the idea of a Sweater Slalom (or whatever).
4. I don't know whether or not to be amused at the solicitation for knitted goods or not. Like the Mo Rocca link, I think they figure it's coming and might as well go with it. Then again, after this drama, I suspect yarnies may not WANNA make them anything by now.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:50 AM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

That might have been a "standard-form" cease and desist letter, but I'm still surprised that it went out under a law clerk's signature. When I was a clerk, I couldn't sign my name to anything unless I added a line to my signature reading "Prepared under the supervision of [Name of Attorney], Esq." Is the fact that he sent it from the Office of the General Counsel of the USOC sufficient to keep this out of practicing-law-without-a-license territory?

Shameful disclaimer: IAAL, but IANAtrademarkL. Which is no excuse. I should know this shit.
posted by bakerina at 11:04 AM on June 21, 2012

Also, I'm a knitter and a Raveler, and I am not mollified by that statement.
posted by bakerina at 11:09 AM on June 21, 2012

"That statement" being the statement from the USOC spokesguy. Dammit, this morning I seem to be thinking and speaking the way I used to drive when I was first learning to drive stick shift. RRRNNNN*thud* RRRNNNN*thud*
posted by bakerina at 11:12 AM on June 21, 2012

Can one of the MeFite lawyers provide the legal definition of 'disrespect'? I just want to make sure I use the correct legal terms.

Or perhaps you could point us to the database of standard forms that includes lines like:

a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games. In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.

"We're passionate about defending what we do, and in this case, we got carried away and insulted what you do. We're really sorry." would have been a better approach, and probably a hell of a lot closer to true.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:57 AM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

I want to see Mortal Kombat-style knitting fights with poking, stabbing, and preternatural rapid knitting abilities.

Then you're welcome to come over and keep my glass of gin full the next time I'm on deadline, Burhanistan.

With love,
bitter-girl.com on Mefi
Knitgrrl on Rav and everywhere else...

(and yes, I am in fact a Knitting Industry Professional, as are several other Mefites. I'll be seeing at least one of them this weekend at our biggest tradeshow of the year, where this is likely to be the second-most-popular topic of conversation...after "what summer flavors does Jeni's Ice Cream have this year?")
posted by bitter-girl.com at 1:55 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

And now they've apologized again, on their Facebook page:

As a follow-up to our previous statement on this subject, we would again like to apologize to the members of the Ravelry community. While we stand by our obligation to protect the marks and terms associated with the Olympic and Paralympic Movements in the United States, we sincerely regret the use of insensitive terms in relation to the actions of a group that was clearly not intending to denigrate or disrespect the Olympic Movement. We hope you’ll accept this apology and continue to support the Olympic Games.

That's a better apology in my mind, and it recognizes why the letter was taken so very, very poorly.

But, hey, now that they've apologized for their apology for their stupid-ass letter, maybe if we keep pestering them, we can get them to apologize for their apology for the apology for their stupid-ass letter. Recursion is fun!
posted by jacquilynne at 5:08 PM on June 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

The tightly knit enthusiasm of sport-lovers around the world for the pure competitive spirit of the Olympic Games is rapidly unraveling. I don't know if it can ever be stitched back together again.

I'll bet that there are many former Olympians who can spin quite a yarn about how things were in the old days, before it all became a tangled mess.
posted by double block and bleed at 5:53 PM on June 21, 2012

Wait, wait, wait, Olympus is a mountain! As in a landform! The committee has a problem with that, too?
posted by skbw at 9:16 PM on June 22, 2012