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Archie Comics, No Longer Breaking Olympics Trademark Law

Published Tue, 09 Aug 2016 09:00:42 -0500

Last updated Tue, 09 Aug 2016 15:26:04 -0500

The Olympics is on. You might have noticed. Archie Comics has.

This Wednesday sees the release a classic collection of Archie Comics in digital form, entitled PEP Digital #184: Archie & Friends Go For The Gold.

It was solicited as;

Archie and the Gang are spending their summer vacation partaking in some gold-medal worthy activities including swimming, archery, volleyball, golf and lots more! Don't worry about booking a plane to Brazil — celebrate the Summer Olympics without even leaving the comfort of your own home!

What could be more innocent?

Well, these are the Team USA brand usage legal guidelines for commercial companies wishing to refer to the Olympics. Bolding is ours.

Federal law gives the USOC exclusive right to control the use of USOC trademarks, imagery and terminology in the United States and allows the USOC to file a lawsuit against any entity using USOC trademarks, imagery or terminology for commercial purposes without express written consent. The USOC is committed to protect its intellectual property rights and those of its sponsors, in order to ensure a sound sponsorship program that can support Team USA and send our athletes to the Games.

Businesses can't use any of the Olympics' trademarked words or phrases.

These terms include:

Olympic

Olympian

Team USA

Future Olympian

Gateway to gold

Go for the gold

Let the games begin

Paralympic

Pan Am Games

Olympiad

Paralympiad

Pan-American

Also, for entertainment companies,

Do use Olympic or Paralympic terminology in appropriate contextual references (e.g., Character went to see the Olympic Games in London, or Character is a huge fan of the Olympic Games, or Character won an Olympic medal in Munich), so long as references are not predominant and the overall theme is not Olympic or Paralympic

Do use Olympic and Paralympic terminology accurately and factually to describe subject matter, so long as it is clear that the USOC does not endorse or approve your project

Also, no creating your own version of Olympic symbols,

whether made from your own logo, triangles, hexagons, soda bottle tops, onion rings, car tires, drink coasters, basketballs, etc.

I pointed this out to Archie Comics representatives yesterday, when talking about another case. Those Olympic lawyers can be quite keen. And before I knew it, this…

Was being transformed into this…