A modest proposal: ban any and everything worldwide, including words, that violates the International Olympic Committee brand value

As a result of yet another news story about the Canadian Olympic Committee's (COC) pressure tactics against a small business owner in Vancouver that I blogged about in What, no flames allowed at the Vancouver Winter Olympics?, I've come up with a modest proposal.

I propose that any and everything that violates the International Olympic Committee's brand value be henceforth and irrevocably banned worldwide. This would include not just existing registered trade marks such as Toasterz and Eaterz, the very trademarks that the COC objected to, but also more famous ones such as the Calgary Flames name and logo, Ronson’s Lighter Fuel logo and any pizza joint worldwide that uses the word Olympic in its names, as well as words such as torch for flashlight in Great Britain and the Olympic Mountains in Washington State.

Since an Olympic event is held every two years, with the next one after the Vancouver Winter Olympics being the London Summer Olympics in 2012, and the IOC has demonstrated over the years that it is like the UN of the sports world, why don't we just avoid all the legal hassle of doing battle with them, bite the Olympic, er, sporting bullet, and take the opportunity to stretch our creative muscles.