Olympian stupidity

The U.S. Olympic Committee ought to take care not to alienate a good part of Washington state, which will be a neighbor to its 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C.

For starters, the USOC has accosted Kathy Charlton for her use of the term "Olympic" in her business. The Olympic Cellars Winery, which sits atop the — hello! — Olympic Peninsula and looks out the back window at the Olympic Mountains, has carried the name since 1992. The USOC litigation department wants Charlton to agree not to sell her wines to anyone outside of Western Washington who has not first stepped through her winery doors.

No kidding.

Also in the USOC's sights is travel guide Jason Bausher, who had better not market his "Best of Olympic Peninsula" guide services beyond the Cascades.

Really.

In 1978, Congress gave the USOC almost exclusive rights to the name Olympic and its derivations. Some exceptions were made, such as for companies founded before 1950 and famous landmarks and cities here in Washington state.

But after the USOC started threatening businesses on the Olympic Peninsula in the mid-1990s, former Sen. Slade Gorton was able to enact a provision to permit similarly named businesses that were not games-related to keep their names; the Washington secretary of state lists about 1,000 corporations with "Olympic" in the name and even more with "Olympia" and "Olympian."A compromise was that they could market only in Western Washington.

That maybe works for Olympic Laundry or Olympic Medical Center, but certainly not for Charlton's and Bausher's businesses. It certainly should not sit well with anyone in a state with — dare we say it? — Olympia as its capital.

The compromise was perhaps reasonable in 1998, but who could have predicted the astonishing rise in national appetites for Washington wines or how local businesses suddenly were so much more accessible to a national market because of Internet sites?

The USOC has an official wine of the Olympics that gets to run the recognizable five-ring logo. Charlton's wines are marketed as "Working Girl Wines" and are made by Olympic Cellars, which appears in small print on the labels.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's office has contacted the USOC on Charlton's behalf, and a spokeswoman said she hopes the problem is worked out.

That would be good news, but Charlton's business, which has carried the Olympic Cellars name for 15 years, should not be required to turn customers away.