TRADEMARK VIOLATIONS

If there's one bunch of joyless uptights more dour than the RIAA, it's the various Olympic bodies around the globe who employ squads of people ready to jump on any infraction of the hallowed Olympic trademarks, lest anyone confuse the four-yearly marketing event with, for example, a good-natured sports event. Latest to feel the wrath is the band Olympic Hopefuls. The band's Darren Jackson hoped they could sort something out:

"Our initial thought was like, 'Well, what if we offer to play at every Olympics for free?' But they didn't think that was too funny," Jackson said. "Then we considered legal action, but we dropped it pretty quickly when our lawyer told us the law was very clear-cut and we were clearly in the wrong."

So the Olympic Hopefuls were forced to shed the "Olympic" from their moniker, and press on as just "the Hopefuls." While Jackson is a bit bummed out by the sudden change, he pledged that he'll continue to keep at least one aspect of his Olympic past alive: For the immediate future, the band will continue to perform in its tracksuits.

We can understand that, technically, yes, they were in breach of the US Olypmic Committee's trademark. But does the USOC really believe that people might buy tickets for a small indie gig in Minneapolis because they really thought they were going to be going to the Olympics?

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