We are on the tail end of the Olympic Games in Rio and while the United States is raking in the gold medals, the U.S. Olympic Committee is looking to reign in use of their property. Namely the words Olympic and Olympian.

The USOC specifically looks at businesses that stand to make money from advertising or online posts including the trademarked words.

The words, hashtags, and phrases containing Olympic or Olympian are trademarked. So, just like during the Superbowl (when everyone says The Big Game to get around the trademark) and March Madness (also trademarked), Idaho businesses wishing to seem relevant to these big games will have to get creative in their verbiage, or risk the possibility of a fine.

The USOC specifically looks at businesses that stand to make money from advertising or online posts including the trademarked words or Olympic logos. There is currently a legal battle over the use of those words.

Even if an Idaho business wanted to congratulate Kristin Armstrong for her race in Brazil - they can't call her an Olympian at the Olympics. They could say congrats to athlete Kristin Armstrong for winning in Brazil or at the Games though.

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