"Olympic" domain issue, help needed

[mattm4000]

Hi All,
I have a question regarding a domain name that I own, the rules say not to post the domain name in this thread so I won't, however I own a domain with the word "Olympic" in it. I purchased this domain on Ebay, I have no use for it so I tried to sell it at GoDaddy where it is housed. Twice I tried to list it and twice GoDaddy removed the listing for copyright issues. I emailed Flippa to ask them if they would allow me to list the domain with them, they did not give me a clear answer, however they did provide me with an email address for the Olympics committee to ask if it was a concern to them. However, I feel like that even if they did respond to say it was ok, I still need to find someone willing to list it which I doubt I will. I'm not even sure if the Olympic committee might request the name from me at some point, I am also curious if the Olympic committee would make an offer to buy it, although I know that's probably not too likely.


Can anyone advise a solution?

 

[Castion]

There are a number of trademarks active that use the word Olympic.
http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&state=4803:jwkqj1.1.1&p_search=searchss&p_L=50&BackReference=&p_plural=yes&p_s_PARA1=&p_tagrepl~:=PARA1$LD&expr=PARA1+AND+PARA2&p_s_PARA2=olympic&p_tagrepl~:=PARA2$COMB&p_op_ALL=AND&a_default=search&a_search=Submit+Query&a_search=Submit+Query

I doubt that the Olympic comity would be interested in buying your name though. I think the solution is to just let the name expire. If you can not use it for your own needs and its not sellable then what use does it have?

 

[Biggie]

Hi
drop the domain
Olympic committee doesn't play

imo...

 

[ukbackorder]

Agreed. Having been on the end of their threats in the past I avoid Olympic, World Cup, Easy[domain], and a few others. Some people are aggressive and just handing over the domain may not be enough.

 

[mattm4000]

Agreed. Having been on the end of their threats in the past I avoid Olympic, World Cup, Easy[domain], and a few others. Some people are aggressive and just handing over the domain may not be enough.

How do I drop the domain?

 

[ukbackorder]

If your registrar doesn't give you the option of deleting your domain I'd just change all contact information for it to non-existent details and remove the nameservers. That way you are not showing any intention of use, passing of, or profiting. Then just ignore it and don't renew it.

 

[Ategy]

"Olympic" is a very special mark. It has even more rules/laws protecting it than standard trademarks. While it always depends on the specific domain and circumstances, chances are very likely that the domain is unusable.

The only real companies that can use Olympic are those that are grandfathered before 19??. There's also a particular region of NorthWestern USA (part of Washington State I think) where the term is allowed because the geographic region includes the word Olympic or Olympus (or something close to that). Even then I think the usage is restricted to within that geographic area.

If the domain was useful to the IOC .. then they'd just take it from you. Thei enforce their marks so heavily I'm pretty sure they wouldn't even pay $1 for a domain that included "Olympic" just for the simple fact of not creating a (non-legal) precedent in having people think it's ok to grab Olympic domains with the intent of reselling them to the IOC.

That being said, I wouldn't stress out too much. Just make sure you don't have any advertising on it and that it's not listed for sale anywhere .. then just let it expire. You can also just delete it as well if you want. While it's impossible to say without knowing the exact domain, chances are it's both worthless and useless because of the extra restrictions on the "Olympic" mark.