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April 29, 2008
Who owns the word "lesbian?"
Posted by: Andoni
"We're the true lesbians say islanders."
Who owns the word "lesbian"? Is it the people on the island of Lesbos or has its use become so widespread that anyone can claim it as their own?
Two inhabitants of Lesbos and a member of a Greek nationalist pagan association have filed a quixotic lawsuit to ban the Greek Gay & Lesbian Union (OLKE) from bearing the name "lesbian."
Who knows the outcome of this. All I know is that when the International Olympic Committee sued the Gay Olympics over the name, we gays were told to cease and desist. A number of diners named Olympic and Olympia that had been operating for years also had to change their names. The IOC had done all the right things legally, like copyrighting and trademarking "Olympic."
Quick, someone trademark and copyright the name "gay" to protect us in case someone tries to say that word is theirs. You know, maybe the citizens of Gay, Ga., will feel like taking it away from us some day.
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Comments
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I wonder if the residents of Carpet Munch, Iowa know about this...
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I wonder if the residents of Carpet Munch, Iowa know about this...
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Charles on May 1, 2008 11:56:10 AM:
You probably don't have too much to worry about. The "Olympic" thing is based not on ordinary trademark law, but on a special provision in federal statute protecting the US Olympic Committee. Were it based on trademark law, there is no doubt that any reasonable judge/jury would say that the term is simply too diluted to have a specific meaning tied to the Olympic games (esp. since there is a 3000 year history of using in all manner of ways).