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S AT U R D AY, F E B R U A RY 1 8 , 2 0 0 6HotOlympians.com Shut Down By OlympicsIn a move that threatens the free speech principles of the Internet, thewebsite HotOlympians.com has shut down in response to a cease anddesist letter from the Olympics. HotOlympians was a clever websitethat highlighted a different male and female athlete each day, toutingtheir hotness (of course) and including links to the competitor's officialweb page (if they had one), profiles of them on ESPN, MSNBC, etc and-- most importantly to their readers -- sexy photos of the athletes fromvarious sources, including shots from competition, posters, fan shots,anything at all that was sexy and revealing and available for viewing onthe web."Olympians" is a trademarked word, so clearly the site needs to use adifferent name, such as HotAthletes.com or whatever. But the Olympiclawyers made further claims, insisting that athletes are forbidden toappear on commercial websites. The main complaint of the USOC wasthat HotOlympians was a commercial website and not a journalisticendeavor. According to an email from the USOC thatHotOlympians.com posted on its site:Rule 41 specifically forbids Olympic athletes to appear in anyadvertisement, even if it is just a mention of the athlete's nameor image, during the 17-day period of the Olympic Games unlessthe athlete has obtained a written waiver of the rule.Absurdly, the USOC lawyers suggest athletes like Bode Miller wouldlose their eligibilityy to participate in the Olympics because theirimages appeared on HotOlympians.com.As Aaron Bailey, the publisher of HotOlympians pointed out, theathletes are no more "endorsing" his website than they are endorsingESPN.com, the New York Times website, or the thousands of fanwebsites that talk about their favorite players and post images of themonline. Bailey says he doesn't have the time or money to fight the USOClegally. He plans to relaunch the site under another name withoutadvertising. (NOTE: Popsurfing.com had just purchased an ad for twoweeks on the site.)The USOC has a right to enforce its trademark on the word"Olympians." But it should be fought over its absurd power grab: it isNext Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G . C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: HotOlympians.com Shut Down By Olympicshttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/02/hotolympianscom-shut...
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POPSURFING.COM: HotOlympians.com Shut Down By Olympicshttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/02/hotolympianscom-shut...
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