Yarn Harlot: Now that you ask

Now that you ask

Yesterday, right out of the blue, my inbox filled up and there were many tweets and things got really, really crazy, really really fast. It turns out that the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) has asked Ravelry to take down infringing patterns and stuff, and to change the name of the Ravelympics, because the US Congress has granted them the? exclusive commercial right to the trademarks.? I guess that might have gone over okay, but in the letter it said that they the USOC believes that? "a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games.? In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country?s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work."

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that right then - that's when the knitters went - to use a technical term, bash*t insane.

All of a sudden I was getting a lot of mail, and seeing a lot of tweets, and a lot of them were telling me that I was going to have to DO SOMETHING, and asking me what I thought.? Knitter feelings were hurt, and knitters don't like that, and they don't want to change the name, and the Ravelympics are exactly the same as the real Olympics and they've dedicated their lives to knitting, just like athletes and.... Well.? They hated it, and they want me to act, or write, or blog... and because I really try so hard to be balanced and fair most of the time, all I could think was "Oh, man.? You don't want to hear what I have to say here" and with that, I had a glass of wine and hoped that it would be gone in the morning.
It's not, and it might even be worse - and now there's mad talk of boycotts and more mail, and desperate messages to me, and I don't feel like I'm going to be allowed to ignore it,? and so here I am, thinking long and hard about this and trying to figure out what I'm going to say and why, and I hope you'll all bear with me, and try to understand.? I'm going to hit some of the highlights from my mailbox. Please - if you're not yet ready to have an open mind, if you're still too mad - go knit something for a little while until you're calmer and ready to consider some other perspectives, eh??

They're trying to stop the Ravelympics! They can't do that!

Deep breaths my knitters.? Deep breaths. As my friend Denny would say, inhale pink, exhale blue.? Nobody said anything about canceling it, or changing it, or anything.? As a matter of fact it was very carefully stated that the worst case scenario - the very worst, terrible, horrible, very bad thing that can happen is that Ravelry would change the name.? I know that's really upsetting to some people, but really, they can't stop you from doing any sort of knitting thing - and they aren't trying to. They just have a legal right to the name- and get to say how it's used. Nobody's stopping anything or trying to stop anything. Whatever plans you had? It's the same.

We're just having fun! Knitters are cool! We're not hurting anybody! Why can't we use the trademark! Don't they have anything better to do than go after knitters?

This one is harder, but keep breathing. Here's the thing. A while ago (I'm going to change details here so that I don't single anyone out) Tina and I had the experience of discovering that some really nice knitters had decided to pay homage to the Sock Summit by having one of their own.? It was not a big event, it didn't hurt us in the slightest that they wanted that to exist.? It was a super fun idea, and we would have loved for them to go forward with it - because it didn't compete with the real Sock Summit in any meaningful way, and they were different enough that any thinking knitter would never have been confused. You could have knocked us over with a feather when our lawyer told us that we had no choice but to ask these nice knitters to use another name for their event. It turns out that under the law, if you don't defend your trademark every time, you lose the right to defend it at all.? So if we'd let those nice knitters use the name, we would have sort of legally said "we don't mind" and that would have worked against us if (and I'm just conjecturing here) a big company, like Vogue or Interweave decided to host a huge Sock Summit of their own, we would have no way to keep them from doing that. Crazy, right? That you can't just decide based on what's really significant or harmful?? It probably doesn't hurt the USOC to have Ravelry using the name, and knitters are just having fun, and it is a really good time, and it does seem silly - but it's also legally necessary, otherwise Apple can put out an Olympic branded Ipad, make a gajillion dollars off of their trademark and it would be hard to stop them. It's not that the USOC are being dicks.? It's that the law is stupidly inflexible- and that's the way the world works. The USOC isn't "beating up on Ravelry".? It's defending it's legal trademark.

(I've had a bunch of emails from people asking why the USOC didn't beat up on me when I did the Knitting Olympics all those years ago... and I have a couple of things.? First, I'm Canadian. It wouldn't be the USOC that came for me. It would be the COC - and they didn't.? I was as careful about the rules as I could possibly be. It turns out that because mine was tiny (a few thousand compared to a few million on Ravelry, and because mine wasn't hosted on a business site- especially way back then. (My enterprise cost money, not made it, and I have no advertisers, then or now.) I was extraordinarily careful about their logo (no merchandise or tee shirts or pins? - and had no events. Just people watching and knitting.? It's important to note that they have the exclusive commercial rights. I wasn't commercial enough for them.)

Oh SURE. The USOC can use the Olympic stuff to make money and that's cool, but Ravelry can't even use it for fun! I'm so sick of these corporations that are all about profit!? Don't they have something more important to do?

This one is even harder.? The USOC has the exclusive commercial right to use some particular trademarked words and images. That means that they are the only ones allowed to make money with those words and images. If they let other people use them to make money without charging them money, then they make less? money.? Yup, I know what you're about to say.? Ravelry isn't using them to make money.?

You sure?? I mean, I know Jess and Casey, and they're pretty smart cookies, and I think that they would be the first ones to explain to you that Ravelry is a for profit business that employs four people.? It exists to be fun and useful for us, and to make money for them. This is a good, smart thing.? Jobs and entrepreneurship are great and noble.? Employing people is noble.? Ravelry is not a charity. (Just keep breathing.)? Ravelry primarily makes its money from advertising dollars and pattern sales.? The more people visit Ravelry, the more patterns they sell, and the more their advertising is worth.? Therefore, Ravelry hosting a big fun thing that attracts lots of knitters is a commercial use.

As for the USOC - do you guys know what they do? I mean, other than ruin things for knitters furthering the ideal of the Olympics within the US?? They make it possible for American Athletes to go to the Olympics and maybe win your country some gold medals.

From their website: "The USOC also supports U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes on and off the field of play through programming such as direct athlete funding, health insurance, tuition grants, media and marketing opportunities, career services and performance-based monetary rewards. In addition, the Olympic Training Center facilities provide athletes with performance services, including sports medicine; strength and conditioning; psychology, physiology and nutrition assistance; and performance technology."

The USOC doesn't have federal funding, and if you don't want to fund them with your taxes, but you still want American athletes to excel and be among the best in the world, then this committee needs a way to make cash.? Licensing their trademark is how they do it.

Help me spread the word Steph! We should all boycott the USOC, and the Olympics because I don't want them to profit from their crappy litigious behaviour.? I won't be watching now! Just wait until the athletes find out about this!

Really?? Now I need to take a deep breath.? Let's let go of the trademark thing.? They had to do it, and you still get to do exactly what you wanted, just somebody else got the name first. . This is like trying to sign up for Ravelry as YarnMama and discovering that you'll have to be YarnMama23 or YarnMamma.? You'll still have exactly the same experience, once you get over the shock.?? Now, the boycott.? Keeping in mind what the USOC does with its money, are you sure that the athletes would be enraged? Considering that the only thing the USOC can sell is its trademarks, and that the USOC makes it possible for a lot of American athletes to go to the Olympics, are you sure they would be on your side with this one?? Besides, boycotting the Olympics because knitters aren't getting to call their event what they want to?? If I was an Olympian, and I'd put in the work and effort that it took to get there, and that was the reason that my fellow citizens had decided not to give any kind of a crap about my effort... maybe I'm alone in this, but I think I'd be pissed - and not at the USOC.

They're saying that Knitting denigrates the Olympics! They're harshing on Knitting, and I'm a knitter and that means they're denigrating me! They're saying that my Olympic effort isn't the same as an athlete's Olympic effort and that's not fair because they don't get how much I care about knitting and how hard it is, and how much skill it takes and .... NOBODY GETS TO PUT KNITTING IN THE CORNER.

This is the really hard one, isn't it? This one is hard for me too. The translation for that? stream of consciousness is "My feelings are hurt" and I admit to the sting.? That language might have been careless,? (and they've apologized)? and it's a shame that it wasn't as polite or absolutely sensitive as it could have been.??? I'd like you to remember that letter wasn't addressed to you,? but was one? enterprise writing to another, and usually there's not a lot of crying about feelings in business stuff, so maybe they weren't thinking a lot about knitter reaction when they wrote it.?? I had to really slow down and read carefully to get over it, and I had to get real about what knitting actually is, and that was hard, because knitting isn't just important to me, it defines a lot of my life, and that makes it feel Olympian.?

What the USOC actually said, was absolutely not that Knitting denigrates the Olympics - or that knitting ruining the Olympics, or that they hate and disrespect us. They said (and I know it's a little stodgy) that using the same word - the word they own,? for "a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others" and for a competition where things are very, very different, denigrates the latter.? What they mean is that your contest isn't Olympic.? Our is, because this is what Olympic means, and we own the word.

That's hard to hear, but you know what? If someone came along and wanted to say that something I thought was way less work than knitting was the same as knitting, I'd feel a little denigrated too.? Like, what if you knew someone who ate kleenex - but they'd worked their whole life at getting good at it and they felt a commitment to it in their life.? Wouldn't you be a little pissed if they suggested that they had a skill that was the same as knitting? Wouldn't you be a little annoyed if they wanted to be a textile artist too? I mean, kleenex is a textile, and they are transforming it... right?

Being a knitter is very, very wonderful, and I happen to think that it's important, and really transformational in a lot of people's lives, and that a lot of people (myself included) have made a really significant commitment to it's importance in their life - a commitment that might feel a lot like being an elite athlete, but we're not.? Let me say that again really carefully.?
We are not like elite athletes.? We are really great, but we are not the same as they are.?
They are athletes.? We are artists.? We take materials and transform them into beautiful, useful items, and the world would be nowhere without that contribution from textile artists, and I mean that literally.? Some of us are making the goal of our lives the highest possible expression of this art form. (Not many though.? A lot of us are just really expertly executing ideas other people had, and are more concerned with doing that right and well.? We're still very clever though.)
We are not, however, spending our whole lives trying to be not just someone who can run 100 metres, but trying to be someone who can run 100 meters better than every single other person on earth - trying to put more sweat and training and work into that than anyone else ever has in the whole world, while knowing the whole time that you've only got a limited time to do that before you're too old (and too old is anywhere from 16 to 40, in the Olympics) and where are you getting the funding from anyway and man - I really hope that you don't get hurt this week, because your next chance to meet your goal is in FOUR YEARS.

Us?? We're artists. We have our whole lives to get good at it, and we can be the best at it anytime, not just once every four years and sure, we get repetitive strain injuries sometimes (some of us) but all Olympic athletes suffer, and damn, have you seen them? Have you seen what they can do? There are millions of knitters.? Millions and millions and you know what? Just about all of us will learn to knit really, really well.? Millions of us.? Them? There's just a few people on earth who can do what they do.? Just a few, and I'm not one of them, and I can't tell you how inspiring that is, and even though the Ravelympics are all in fun, and I sort of feel bad that the USOC might have used the wrong words to explain it...

We're not like them.? Knitting something - no matter how amazing the something,? isn't the same as competing in the Olympics - and while they were clumsy with that point?? I understand.

Those hurt feelings are real.? It's hard not to confuse that with actual injury, but at what point when we're all complaining, emailing, tweeting, blogging, phoning, posting... at what point do we start to look like we're saying "We don't want to play by the rules.? We're knitters, and there's enough of us that if we don't get our way, or if you hurt our feelings or don't talk to us the way we like it - we might get ugly."?? It makes me wonder about stuff.? No matter what this ends up being called, or no matter how it goes down, in the end you're still cool and smart, and non-knitters still don't totally get why, and in my heart I know you're an artist, not an athlete, and I know this one really stung, but let's maybe think about putting down the pitchforks, stop sending nasty mail, stop the name calling and showing them what we're really made of.

Peace out Knitters. Stay Classy.

Please be civil in the comments. I know you've got it in you.??

Posted by Stephanie at June 21, 2012 4:55 PM | TrackBack

Ah, the voice of reason...

People were right to ask your opinions. Leave it to knitter's to get their skeins all in knots and their panties along with.

Some of those ladies have a whole lot of knitting to do before then are able to see the variegation of the situation.

I hope they can see the graft at the end of the sleeve ;D

I love these commentroversies, if only to see how you will remind us of reality.

"that's when the knitters went - to use a technical term, bash*t insane."

Yup, that's pretty much what happened.

Beautifully said. The big problem I had was the "denigration" bit in the letter. I'm glad they apologized, and it seems they have used this same boilerplate in other letters. Here's hoping they will be more respectful in defending their trademark in the future.

Thanks for the words of wisdom! There's been so much anger and vitriol and it just feels like perhaps there's a better way to direct that energy.

Nicely done. I'm still chuckling over the "Breathe in pink, exhale blue.". Where I work one of my peers, (and ex Army Ranger), stands in front of me when my red hair is beginning to flame and says, "Breathe in, I'm a flower, exhale and I'm a butterfly". I have no idea what the hell that means, but I usually gain control of my temper, senses, flapping mouth and just grin.
Thanks Steph for giving me the moment between the inhale and the flaming exhale. Grin. Now, back to the Tab and rum.

Thank you for researching this and explaining this so well. You might not be an Olympic athlete but you are a champion.

Thank you for the words of wisdom and levity. I feel the same but would have never had been able to say it so eloquently. I too am a knitter, I even do some of my own designs but agree with you on the principle of the difference between knitters and olympians. At one point in my life I was a marathoner, and know the difference between my craft and physical past time though they both feel and are monumental at times in ones life. Again, thanks, and sorry or the ill written iphone typed agreement.

Wish I were classy!
Q.

I've been out of the knitblog community for years although I still follow some folks on twitter. I can't believe that people are making a big deal about this. Get a life.

I know an actual two-time Olympian. And his wife. And frankly, the idea that knitting is an Olympic effort is a joke compared to this man's (and his family's) commitment to a singular goal and sacrifice to make that happen.

People listen to you. So thanks for using your words to try to talk some sense into people. Good grief!

People need to step away from the computer and their indignation and go do some knitting.

thanks for the calming voice in a sea of turmoil.

Thank you-we did need a voice of reason to speak up. And I do hope this whole exercise at least taught the USOC to have some respect. It's ironic that they use the terms "denigrate" and "disrespectful" in their boilerplate C&D letter, yet have no trouble accepting money to license Team USA Pampers. Seriously. At the very least it's been thought-provoking!

Amen. As an attorney, I certainly understand the trademark issue at stake and agree that they had to defend the mark. Designers certainly should applaud this stance as well. I think the law clerks unfortunate comparison is what draws so much ire. I just hope it is a teachable moment for him in always considering the multiple audiences for any communication (and that he is not one to be smug about it when he returns to law school in the fall).

Extremely well said. Thank you, Steph!

Well done, Stephanie. We can all support knitting, and Ravelry and the Olympics (all at once, even!) and the world will be better for it.

Thank you for reasonable comments and a level-headed approach to this issue. We still have a long way to go to bringing knitting the respect it deserves, but we'll get there someday. An organization I work for recently had a golf tournament as a fundraiser. I mused (only half joking) "I wish we could have a knitting competition instead..." Maybe someday that will happen! In the meantime, let's all relax and appreciate what we do have.

Well said, in every way.

p.s. I was thinking I should explain the legal thing, being a knitting lawyer and all, so thank you for doing it and even better than I probably would have!

Yes, this. All of this. This is what I tried to say in the Ravelry thread (though in my usual hamfisted and ineloquent way) and I got people arguing that NO, it's TOTALLY THE SAME, that knitting a personal challenge and running faster than anyone else in the whole world is TOTALLY THE SAME and they train as hard as anyone else. At that point I decided everyone was insane.

Thank you for being sane, and saying what I could without even one f-bomb.

Thanks, Stephanie.
Class is exactly what is needed here.
And pride. These athelets are amazing, no matter
from what country they come. They are the best in the world at what they do & should be celebrated. (and no one parties better than fiber people!!)

Ever notice how it sometimes takes a Canadian to calm down all of us south of that border?

Well done, Stephanie, and thanks.

Exactly the right response to the situation, well reasoned and great examples. I appreciate your efforts to bring a dose a reality to the mania. The effort is the same, only the name will be changed.

So sad, for ravelry and fellow knitters. But it is just a name, a lot of women who get married change their names. A lot keep them it's all okay. We can keep knitting and in groups. It's not like they went after our stashes. Thanks Steph. Ps I just got done reading your blog from the start, I have so many new projects to start.

I'll repeat previous comments: well said, Stephanie. Thank you!

Thank you, Stephanie - way to put things in perspective! well done!

We can always count on your for perspective, Steph. Now, let's get on with deciding what to re-name our own fun competition.

I accept the "amended" apology. However (and it's a big "however"), I don't believe that it would ever have come about without the uproar. The only reason any apology was issued as to the wording of the C&D (and they've used that "degenerate" thing on other companies/events, too) is because they be-latedly realized they had made an epic social media FAIL.

For me, I was always fine if they wanted us to change the name. I'm a believer in copyright/trademark, so I have no problem with their request to remove patterns that infringe on their trademark. I don't equate my yarncraft with Olympic athleticism. I thought the whole point of the Ravelry games was to encourage interest & support for the games while we did our thing - and in a world where so many people don't even watch the games anymore (at least, not like when I was a kid & you watched all of it because it was nearly the only thing on & was made into a huge deal), one would think that the USOC would love something that encouraged viewership without costing them money.

I guess you could look at it as the power of knitters. If we were a small organization the USOC would have never heard of the Ravelympics. It would have remained anonymous forever if we weren't 2 million strong. Once again, without even realizing it, we've changed some of history forever. We dropped a leaf in the river and that little shift of current changed things downstream.

Should we get upset over changing the name? Well, it was cool to say 'Ravelympics', but something equally cool will come up.

It was a bit insulting to hear that we do not work on an olympic caliber. Obviously they've never seen a knitter the week before Christmas trying desperately to get two hats and a pair of socks knit before Christmas. But that's just my opinion.

Thank you. I'm still sad, because what hurt most about this whole thing wasn't the insult or the fact of copyright, it was the reminder that everything s increasingly "owned" in he modern world. I feel like we have been playing in a beautiful field somewhere, and a big man just came along and yelled at us because we can't play there, it's HIS field. Okay, I get it, but I'm still sad.

Thank you for this. The tone of the original letter bothered me but the bring on the pitchforks, especially the taking it out on the poor guy who's job it was to sign his name to that letter, bothered me more.

As the mother of a Canadian Olympic rower and a past participant in the Ravelympics and your Knitting Olympics, I laud your thoughtful responses to knitters' outrage.

Excellent, Stephanie! You put the situation into perspective. I hope all knitters will rise above their hurt feelings and will show that they are loving, caring people by supporting the Olympians this summer.

Thank you. This was very well said. I hope that all of your readers pass this along. While many have their feelings hurt, the letter wasn't really our business. Trademarks and copyrights are a big deal. We wouldnn't like it if someone else stole our "patterns, ideas ect" and sent them out.

very well put. i kind of said the same thing but you know i'm not a writer so not as well as you.

Kudos to you for putting everything so clearly. Personally, I feel a lot better now. As always, you are the voice of reason in an insane world. Thanks, and Knit on!

Thanks for urging us to take the high road.

I wonder if the USOC had any idea how big Ravelry is or how many knitters there are in the world before they wrote their letter.

I agree with every word you wrote, and you wrote very well - rationally, clearly, passionately, and persuasively. You put this better than perhaps any other single person on this earth could have. Thank-you for taking the time to think this through and to communicate this post.

Thank you for saying everything that was in my mind that I couldn't get out- and then some. Awesome. Could not agree with you more.

I think what's aggravating to so many is that this has only served to show us that Ravelympics is waaaay more in the spirit of what the original Olympics were than what we have had for the past 20 or so years. Non-professional, my ass. As far owning the very word Olympic, I guess the US Congress will just have to rename those mountains in Washington?

In short - Keep Calm and Carry Yarn. Thanks for reminding us.

Thank you for saying this.

This is why I read your blog. In addition to being wicked funny, you remind us all not to take ourselves too seriously and be nice.

Very well put. And I just have one thing to say to the USOC about their word choices in the letter... "that's not how you do it". :)

Once again you put my feelings into words far, far better than I ever could. The only thing I would add is this:

The person that wrote and sent the letter is, what appears to be, a summer intern. It is a young man who is in law school and, like most law school students, full of fire and enthusiasm for defending their clients (in this case the USOC).

After years of working with lawyers, I can practically hear the conversation now.

Supervising Atty (SA): There's this event called the "Ravelympics"? Check it out. If they're doing anything Olympic-like or it looks like they're doing anything related to the Olympics, send out a C&D. There's a form in the computer. Punch it up a little to make it look less formlike and send it out.

Law Clerk/Summer Intern (LC/SI): Sure thing, SA! Do you want to see a draft before I send it?

SA: No, I've got cases X, Y, and Z and I'm due in court tomorrow on G. It's a simple letter, just send it.

LC/SI: Sure thing!

Then he does his best to punch it up to make sure those Ravelympics people know they can't just use the Olympics willy-nilly, and these Olympians are HEROES. They need to be protected while they serve the country! And he sends it. Without thought. And the SA doesn't think anything of it, because it's a simple C&D letter.

And then the knitters go, to quote you, Stephanie, bash*t insane.

Do you want to know what I think the worst thing in this whole situation is?

That Law Clerk/Summer Intern, who it looks like moved to Colorado Springs on a law student budget, probably lost his job. Now all the internships are taken by this point, he won't get any credit for interning, and when future employers google his name, this foolish error will follow him forever.

All because he probably just got overambitious and someone didn't read the draft first.

Thank you so much for your perspective. It was very helpful to me, and I hope, to all knitters everywhere. We are great, we are creative, and we are tolerant and forgiving.

I think I'd have an easier time with this if entities like, say, Pampers wasn't an official sponsor. That's right, literally reliving oneself on the official logos of the Games is totally acceptable as long as enough cash has exchanged hands.

Was Ravelry making money off of this? I don't think so. It seems petty of the Olympic Committee to have this attitude, since Ravlry's even encouraged knitters to watch the Olympics as they were televised. Besides, the US is just one country that participates in the Olympics. Why do they 'own' the word? That makes no sense. Nevertheless, it looks as though either they have ruined a good time for a lot of people, or Ravelry needs to change the name of their event.

Too bad.

Bravi! I'd stand up and applaud you but I'd would get some strange looks around the office. You are an excellent voice of reason and a (hopefully) calming influence amongst us knitters. Personally, I plan on sitting back, yarn in hand, enjoying the Olympic games and cheering on the best athletes. And here is hoping all of the knitters with their worsted in a twist will use their energy for bringing about world peace so future Games will not be hampered with bombings and assinations.

Thank you for this lovely, articulate post. You've said everything so well.

Too bad you even had to address this issue but I agree with every single word. Nicely done. I intend to stay classy.

Thank you for posting this.

I admit, I was a little upset about this whole thing - especially the "denigration" part - and their original apology did just anger me all the more. (The updated apology was enough to cool me down, though.)

I'll just be walking away now, I think. No matter what comes out of this, it doesn't affect the fact that we're awesome - that we have skills and also, apparently, enough voice to make a giant corporation like the USOC take notice and apologize. That really is something to be proud of, I think.

...though, if Stephen Colbert does take up this story, I WILL be knitting him a pair of socks. ;)

Bravo ma belle. I always love how you can talk a knitter down from the ledge!

If you weren't already so busy living your very full life, I'd strongly recommend you for an emergency responder position. And the fact that you can relate to the emotion of the incident but can somehow corral your feelings enough to look at the thing from another perspective....not many folks seem to have that ability/sensibility these days.

Now, can you come and help resolve the tuition/Bill 78 issue here in Quebec? We have Montreal bagels and cheese curds....

Cheers, Barbie O.

Thanks for being a voice of reason, and for explaining the legalities involved. Hopefully your position in the knitting world will help bring some sanity back into the matter.

Stephanie, I am now an even bigger fan of yours than I was before I read this post. Which I didn't think was really possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now everybody go eat a cookie, knit something and get over it all.

Now that they have really said they were sorry for the wording of the letter, I do think it is time to move on to finding a new name for the Ravelympics. Hopefully the USOC has learned something from this experience and maybe changed how they word their form letters

Thanks Stephanie. For taking the time and energy and good will to put this out there. You're cool like that. 'Zat's one reason we love you.

Clear, reasonable, calm, considered, and well-said. Thank you.

I really, really agree. Changing the name is not a big deal, is a totally reasonable request, and should be done posthaste. Let's respect athletes from all nations! :D

Thank you. I want everyone on Ravelry to read this and then breathe.

Too bad the USOC doesn't spend their time and funding supporting their athletes. Instead they devote themselves to legal harassment while entire medal winning teams (anyone remember the short track team in 2010?) have to get private funding.

So while medal winners like JR Celski have to rely on Stephen Colbert, they have the funds to pay lawyers who seek out everyone who is "denigrating" the Olympics by participating in a world wide celebration of the event in the spirit of challenge and comraderie.

Great job guys!

Well, Miss Stephanie: today you took me through the entire gamut of emotions within the few minutes it took to read your blog. I was not aware that the Olympic committee had addressed this issue at all, until I started to read. I was immediately incensed. Then as I read on, you reminded me of all the reasons why I shouldn't take this as a personal affront. So I am, once again, in my happy place, and I thank you for that. You do have to enjoy watching the knitters flare up and scare the Olympic people. I think it says quite a bit that they apologiized at all. I doubt that they do that often.

Well, Miss Stephanie: today you took me through the entire gamut of emotions within the few minutes it took to read your blog. I was not aware that the Olympic committee had addressed this issue at all, until I started to read. I was immediately incensed. Then as I read on, you reminded me of all the reasons why I shouldn't take this as a personal affront. So I am, once again, in my happy place, and I thank you for that. You do have to enjoy watching the knitters flare up and scare the Olympic people. I think it says quite a bit that they apologiized at all. I doubt that they do that often.

Thank you so much for putting into words pretty much everything I've been thinking since this whole thing started. (And, naturally, you said it waaaaay better than I could have!)

I'm a knitter. I'm a GOOD knitter. I do amazing things with teeny needles and wispy yarn. But that doesn't even BEGIN to compare with what Olympic athletes do. I mean, c'mon. My shawls vs. 10 hours a day ripping the skin off your hands on the uneven parallel bars or climbing the high dive and flinging yourself off over and over and over?? No contest. Not no way, not no how. I'm actually embarrassed by the mindless raging of knitters over this whole thing.

I think the majority of hurt feelings wasn't over the implication that knitting is an Olympian effort. We KNOW we aren't Olympians. The insult was implying that our enthusiasm and moral support of the athletes, expressed as challenging ourselves in our own craft as we cheer on the games, was denigrating the Olympics and disrespecting the athletes. It was a demonstration of ignorance that the fiber arts community felt could not go uncorrected. In the USOC's updated apology, I think they have come as close as they ever will to acknowledging their error.

I'd like to add my thanks Stephanie. Very well said and sincerely meant. You truly are a voice of calm and reason in a crazy world. Knit on!

Like Helen and many many others have said here:

Well said!!

I can understand the legal bits and can understand the request. I for one am still going to continue with the event, no matter what it's called.

I too felt a little stung at their words at the end. On reflection, I think my own irritation and upset feeling comes from having to explain my love of knitting to people time and time again, from having to explain that no, I'm not a granny and no I'm not "sad" (meaning pathetic here in the UK and no, I can't knit you a jumper for ?10 plus the cost of yarn.

I've had those reactions from people when I tell them that I knit lately.

I know the Olympic committee didn't say that I was "sad" or "granny like", but I drew that implication from their words - so I need to recognise that my own perspective is screwed up as a result of dealing with idiot members of the public (MOST of whom are fine and are generally lovely about knitting).

Am I going to boycott the olympics? No. Am I going to support the hard work of the athletes? Yes, although I am British, so it'll be Team GB for me (although I respect the hard work of any athlete!), Am I going to continue with the work I had planned for the Ravelympics (or whatever name they now use)? Yes.

Thanks for your rational, thought provoking and most excellent post.

Bravo Steph! As usual your way with words is perfect.

I'm sorry, I love you very much Steph, but this is a little bit condescending. Athletes aren't inherently "better" than anyone, they've simply made a choice to devote a lot of time and effort to doing something that they want to do, in order to achieve their personal goals and gain fame and glory. That choice isn't better or worse than the choice to devote all your time to academia, or to raising a family, or to nurturing a circle of loving friends, or whatever it is that the rest of us have devoted the majority of our time to doing.

It's true, knitters don't tend to make sacrifices for their crafts on the same scale. But I'm willing to bet that some of them would, if there was as much money/fame/sponsorships/etc on the line! The only reason such elite athletes exist is because our society values sports so much. It doesn't mean sports are inherently better- they're just more interesting to watch. Still, no one's saying it's exactly the same caliber of event-obviously it's not- but that doesn't mean that ours is insulting.
As someone put it on Ravelry- it ain't like either of our activities is going to be curing cancer or feeding the hungry.

Steroids, McDonalds, cheating... those are the things that denigrate the Olympics. Having a parallel "competition" (sort of) featuring a perfectly positive and productive activity and a *play on the name* (seeing as Ravelry wasn't using the name "Olympics") isn't denigrating anything.

Most of us don't really have a problem with them protecting their trademark (though I'm not sure that they own "ympic", but who knows.) Though, the USOC do have a reputation for being litigious bullies- repeatedly attacking companies in Olympia/on the Olympic Peninsula (in WA) for using the word Olympic, of all the nonsense.

As a side note... apparently knitting actually used to be an Olympic event, albiet for children. I can't find the reference on Google at this point since I just get articles about this issue, but if it's true, guess it's not THAT unworthy.

(Also worth noting: the wording in this letter was taken directly from another one sent to the Redneck Olympics- they just changed the name of the activities from "toilet seat horseshoes" and "bobbing for pigs feet" to the knitting events. Guess it's equally disrespectful.)

I am sorry that people felt the need to bombard you with letters- this isn't your problem, not even your country :-P I think people were curious about why it was okay for you to use Olympics, but I think it probably comes down to "Canada tends to be reasonable."
Your event may have been small and non-profit, but the USOC most likely would've been all over it anyway if it were here. (And I wonder if you'd feel differently if YOURS had been accused of being disrespectful?)

How is it possible the USOC can go after the use of "Ravelympics"? They don't own that as a trademark ... the only have use of the Olympic name or symbol. Fine for them to go after crafters who are making things with the Olympic emblem and selling the pattern, because that is trademark violation. But Ravelry can use the name "Ravelympics" if they want since there's no confusion that Ravelympics is the actual Olympics.

Thanks for bring up the trademark jargon ... so many people don't get it.

Sincerely, IP Law student

Thank you for a well reasoned and clearly stated perspective. Like many others, I plan to watch a lot of cool sports that I don't get to see very often, and do some knitting too, whatever you want to call it.

Amen! Well said. These days people get hysterical about things before they even stop to think. You bothered to take the time to stop and think about it. Thank you.

you always know just what to say =)

Good analysis of the issues. (I'm afraid my response to the outraged knitters would have been something like, "Grow up. Expend all that outrage on issues that really matter. Fight global warming, support a charity with your dollars, volunteer at a homeless shelter, etc." ) Copyrights are there for a purpose. Just ask any knitter who has a pattern to be sold, a songwriter, an author. Think about how you would feel if you were asked to work without getting any compensation. The USOC is a "person" whose business is supporting Olympic athletes and their only product is the Olympic name/symbol.

Once again, a rational reasoned response eminently well said! I so appreciate that in you.

Thank you, Stephanie, for helping me understand. <3

Thanks for being the voice of reason. As a knitter, I am not offended by the whole cluster-muck. I am alarmed by the outrage expressed on the behalf of the Ravelympics. Ugly.

Thank you for being the voice of logic and reason. This was, as all your posts are, clear and logical. And this was absolutely what we needed.

It is always a good thing to stay on the high road. Usually much less crowded!

Thanks for Denny's breathing lesson, the reasoned walk through the issues, and the guffaw (i.e. Kleenex eating textile artist).

As I wrote over on Ravelry, we can call the event "Fred" & it will still be fun.

Thank you very much for your words of wisdom Stephanie! You are so thoughtful.

Exactly right, and well said. Thank you.

Hi Steph!

You're so nice and polite and calming. I confess that it took me a while to get my mad face on. I mean, the name is trademaarked, and I wasn't surprised that the USOC got all upset about it. I was in Odyssey of the Mind when they were being sued by USOC and forced to change their name. It was formerly known as a Olympics of the Mind. My first thought was "Okay, just change the name" and I started thinking of possible names. But then I read the letter.

We are artists of varying degree and abilities. We are not athletes. I get that. What I didn't like was the condescending attitude. A standard boilerplate C and D letter generally does not insult the community slash recipient. There's a big difference between "Your name infringes on our copyright. Please change it." and "Your name infringes on our copyright. Please change it. How could you even consider yourself and what you do comparable to us? You're *just* a crafter. Your little competition cheapens ours. Your father stank of elderberries...."

The USOC *has* a point. A very good point. We should change the name. Especially with all the copywrong wank we see on Rav all the time. Many of us (myself included) are not offended by the message. But the manner of delivery goes over like a lead baton in the 500 meter relay.

So fiberdorks, let's not go in with pitchforks and flaming torches. Lets be classy, keep a sense of humor and try not to behave like adults. Classy adults.

Wise words; wise woman. Thanks, Steph.

You make it all clear. As an attorney, I hate the 'I have to sue you' ethic which is all too common today (car accidents, doctors' mistakes...); however, if the Olympic Committee makes money by licensing its brand and that brand is found to have entered the public speech as a generic term ('Escalator,' if memory serves, was once a brand), then the Olympic committee will have no way to make money. Xerox and Kleenex waged great battles to have people refer to other iterations of their products as 'photocopy machines' and 'facial tissues.' I'm sorry the initial contact was perceived as nasty. Attorneys don't all knit, alas, though I think the world would be way calmer if they did.

Thank you - at last (if you can consider an 'at last' a mere 24 hours after the initial event) a voice of reason amidst the hysterical chaos.

This is an excellent post. Very well thought out, very balanced, very fair.

The really fascinating thing is it all began when you dropped this little comment in your blog ten years ago and thought knitting along with the games could be fun. I think this makes you the Knitting Olympics spiritual mother. Got anymore good ideas?

ahh so rational and reasonable. I love it. Thanks for an awesome blog post that answers all the questions that people have.
xx

I absolutely understand about the trademark issue, and also about the point regarding commercial use. That was very clearly and nicely stated.

I agree with Romi that the word "denigration" probably shouldn't be in their form letter, and I'm glad they apologized for that one. It's the one point that raised my hackles, and it did so because it seemed to me to imply that knitting along reduced the importance of the event rather than demonstrating support for it. Your reading does make sense though, and I think we should try to think that way.

I should maybe note, though, that I've never participated in either your Knitting Olympics or in the Ravelympics, so I can't really speak for how those knitters who did so feel.

The only other point I'd add is that, well, I don't really think it's a situation worth getting all that worked up about. I want to hasten to add that, yes, knitting is worthwhile. It's made my life a happier one, and I'm extraordinarily proud of each new skill I gain, and how it stretches my brain and boosts my feelings of self-worth to see what I'm capable of producing in tangible form.

BUT. But. No one is trying to stop us knitting. They've apologized for the one point that wasn't that well-stated. The worst-case scenario ain't that bad. And so, in my view, being over-sensitive will probably do more bad than good by having a somewhat negative impact on our image as a community.

Thanks for your post. I hope it will help cooler heads prevail.

As of an hour ago, they posted Apology 1.5 on their FB page. It's better but still has bugs.

"There's just a few people on earth who can do what they do . . . we are not the same as they are." Perfect. :)

Yeah. Try being ACTUALLY GREEK and see what happens. "Greek Life" = fraternities, sororities, hazing; not how I live my life. "Spartans" = Michigan State University mascot; not some of my family who come from Sparta.

(True story: Someone last week saw my hat emblazoned with "Zakynthos" and asked about it. I said it was my mother's island. He said, "Wow -- your mom has her own island? You must be so rich!")

Well written, Stephanie, as always. :o)

I am one knitter who took offense at the wording of the cease-and-desist letter. And took to twitter to voice my feelings.

I vehemently disagree with many aspects of trademark law today, which I think has gone way too far in some instances. (Vancouver's Olympia Pizza, anyone?). I think the notion that the word 'Ravelympics'/the Ravelympics themselves pose real threats to the US Olympic Committee, the IOC, the Olympic movement as a whole, is pretty silly. Ravelry is, to be sure, a for-profit enterprise. But come on...does anyone really think Ravelry is taking money away from the Olympic Movement by allowing its members to have their own friendly (dare I say more friendly than the actual Olympics?) competition?

That said, I appreciate the law is on the USOC's side in this matter. For myself, (and, from what I've seen on Rav, Twitter, and Facebook, for the majority of knitters and crocheters), the name change isn't the issue, and never was. It was the tone of the letter, and, yes, the use of the word 'denigrate'.

I would never dream to actually compare my knitting to the training of an Olympic athlete. I am confident that most knitters and crocheters wouldn't. Our crafting is important, creative, and challenging, yes, but I agree with you, it is not the same thing as Olympic-level athletic training.

The thing is, I very much doubt that many athletes would actually feel denigrated by the Ravelympics. I think if they saw what the Ravelympics (or, dear, Harlot, your Knitting Olympics, or any of the countless Olympics-inspired, trademark-infringing activities that countless women, men and children will participate in under the radar) was all about, they would recognize it for what it is -- a fun event that coincides with the Olympic Games, celebrates the spirit of striving to achieve a goal.

I, for one, accept the USOC's amended apology. And I'm looking forward to participating in the Olymic-Games-inspired-Ravelry-event, whatever it is called.

More than anything, I am sad that the true Olympic spirit has been dying for years, now, as the event becomes less and less about truly celebrating athletic achievement and the peoples of the world coming together in harmony, and more about money. But I digress...

I understand where you are coming from, but I have to disagree on your final analysis.

Yes, the USOC not only has the right, but duty to defend it's trademark if it wants to keep it. Nobody I know is arguing that.

It's the idea that our pursuits aren't worthwhile. That our efforts are less worthy. Perhaps they aren't as camera worthy as breaking the world record on high jump, but that does not lessen the feeling of accomplishment and pride I get from finishing an amazing piece of knitting I wasn't sure I could do.
Remember when you ran out to show your neighbors your first piece of lace knitting? Remember how proud you were? How would you have felt if someone had said "Oh sure it looks nice, but it's not exactly what I'd call an accomplishment. It's just knitting."

That's what these knitters are reacting to. The degeneration of their efforts as somehow unworthy of praise or pride.

That glass of wine and breathing thing- genius! You explained this in a clear, concise and non-judgmental way. I need to learn to do that more often. As always, you rock!

A voice of reasom. Thank you.

Brilliant Stephanie! Thank you for taking the time to lay this out in such a rational, calm manner. Score one for knitters!

Well, it took this to get my first comment lol

First of all, I agree wholeheartedly with your stance, Stephanie. I like to get my pitchfork on as much as the next person, but I have personally felt embarrassed by the vitriol that has been coming from many of my fellow Ravelers. I was planning on participating in the event on Ravelry before, but now I don't think I will.

Secondly, there were several independent companies that were specifically marketing yarn and other materials for the event, and they were paying advertising costs, so strictly speaking, Ravelry was profiting.

Third, I have been appalled at the way people are reacting to this law clerk. When I was reading the forum boards, all I could think was, "Am I the only person who can remember a time when I said something without thinking?" This poor guy was doing his job and, yes, probably should have taken a bit more time to be sure that his wording was insulting, but the response has been ridiculous!

I'm sure he wouldn't want them now, but I kind of want to knit him a pair of socks or something to apologize for the overreaction.

I truly hope this dies down now. This has not brought good attention to our knitting community.

Thanks for being the voice of reason in all this. Personally, I understood from the beginning that they needed to defend their trademark. The parts of it that really irritated me was the denigration line, and the initial apology.

To me at least, the denigration line and the tone of the letter read as "we stand for culture, education, tolerance, respect, world peace, and harmony. You guys just mess around with yarn." Obviously the skills to become a knitter (even an expert knitter) and an Olympic-class athlete cannot be compared, but I read the C&D to mean that we crafters denigrate the *ideals* of the Olympics. I found this incredibly insulting and offensive.

In addition, the initial apology just made me more angry, since it too was worded very poorly. The claim that the C&D was simple boilerplate was clearly false (it was obviously edited to some degree, as I doubt the USOC tells other organizations that their afghan marathons denigrate the Olympic spirit), and passing it off as such seemed an affront to my intelligence and that of the craft community.

In addition, I thought the final sentence was poorly written, in bad taste, or both. You cannot apologize and ask for free stuff at the same time. I felt that that statement denigrated crafters by belittling the amount of effort we put into each crafted item.

Finally, the tone of the apology was very much "We apologize for you being angry", which is very different from "We apologize for what we said", and read to me as a hint of gaslighting, especially as the majority of the crafting community is female.

The second round of apology is much better, and I feel significantly calmer now. It's sad to think how much of this could have been avoided with more careful language... It's not what they said, but how they said it.

I wrote contracts for the federal government for alot of years,I am not an attorney. The actual statute referenced by USOC Sec. 220506. Exclusive right to name, seals, emblems, and badges) limits their recourse of civil action to when the use of olympics or variants thereof cause confusion deliberately or accidently that suggests a connection with the USOC. I don't believe the use would do so. It is common for corporations to interpret laws to their advantage and their interpretation is not always correct, enforcable, nor the way it has been previously interpreted by the courts. I have many times seen a corporation misrepresent their ability to take action as a scare tactic hoping the other party will back down. Which I suggest is what is happening now.

"(3) the words described in subsection (a)(4) of this section, or any combination or simulation of those words tending to cause confusion or mistake, to deceive, or to falsely suggest a connection with the corporation or any Olympic, Paralympic, or Pan-American Games activity;

or
(4) any trademark, trade name, sign, symbol, or insignia falsely representing association with, or authorization by, the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, the Pan-American Sports Organization, or the corporation."

Thank you for your summary of the situation and correct response. The second apology from the USOC is a good one that all knitters should accept. It is time to move on.

Thank you for bringing the voice of reason to this issue. I've been avoiding Ravelry and Twitter because no one was saying what needed to be said. Thanks again for stepping up.

Meh, I'm on the fence on this one, and I do agree with most of this post.

I can totally understand the need to defend the copyright in order to keep it (as do most of the people commenting that I've seen so far. As a community we tend to be reasonably well versed, or at least well intentioned, in the area). However, copyright law does have allowances for things like parody and free comment. I think there's a good argument for the ravelympics being a friendly parody, certainly the event titles are. It's the same reason J.K. Rowling can't move against the Barry Trotter books for infringing on the Harry Potter copyright.

The USOC, the London 2012 people and probably countless other Olympic committees around the world, however, have been ... problematic in their implementation of copyright protection. Including businesses on the Olympic Peninsula being told to change their names in similar letters. They're known for being militant and agressive to an unreasonable degree, so it's really hard to be sympathetic to their cause. That, as it turns out, this is actually their standard form letter, insults and all, illustrates how agressive and bullying they are.

As for the denigrate part, I don't agree with anybody who suggests that knitting a sweater is comparable with competing in the Olympics. However, denigrate suggest that the association with knitting somehow bringing the olympics into disrepute. It's not like it's an olympiad of extra marital affairs or puppy kicking. Basically, the USOC said that it didn't want to be seen in public with knitting (or crochet, or spinning, or...). Yeah, I reserve the right to be insulted.

Stephanie,
Thanks AGAIN for being a calming voice of reason. I know it took you time out of a very busy schedule to research all of that and I appreciate all the effort. Be Classy! That's the key!

I agree with Alex. I don't find sports and sportspeople any more noble or worthy of attention and billions of dollars of sponsorship than any other pasttime. At the amateur level there are, I'm sure, many good things about sports. At the Olympic level sports is about advertising $, drugs, overinflated national pride and "ooh look my opening ceremony is bigger than yours and it doesn't matter if we bankrupt the country and evict lots of homeless people from the city because look how impressive we are." Some might call that cynical - I call it realistic.

Meanwhile, fibrecrafters around the world get on with clothing ourselves, our families and total strangers in need of help, in a spirit of fun and love and international community,with little recognition and a fair dose of jokes about grannies. I don't think it's any surprise that we got so worked up about the original letter. Trademarks? Fine. Ridiculous, but fine. Daring to suggest that the effort put in by sportspeople, some of whom are paid more than is reasonable, is somehow more noble than the efforts of the rest of us? Yeah, nah.
I accept the SECOND attempt at an apology, but I will never accept that my attempts to better myself through my hobbies are less worthwhile than those of a football player, marathon runner or synchronised swimmer.

Yeah, I had already decided I have better things to do than play along with the Rav game this year (whatever they decide to call it). And now I feel like doing something constructive, like maybe knit something for the nice young man who helps coach my daughter's swim team and is in the US olympic trial finals in swimming next week (and is not named Phelps).

What a lovely post! It helped me love the Olympics again and that's just as well because they're in my home country this year!

By the way, have you ever thought of a sideline as a diplomat?

Thank you for bringing some sanity to the situation. It's not personal, it's business, and as a previous posted commented, we could call it Gladys and it would still be fun!!! Knit on.....

Thought of something else, thanks to AmarilloKnitter !

I re-tweeted a couple of angry tweets sent to the author of the cease-and-desist letter, and have regretted it. While I think his words were poorly chosen, bombarding his personal account crossed a line. The official USOC account was far more appropriate recipient of vehement, yet respectful opinion.

Thank ye Ma'am, for being such an excellent parent. Neatly done, today's blog. Apologies for having asked it of you, but thanks!

A great reality check. Well said. Thank you.

Thank you for your thoughtful, rational post! I actually just learned of the whole thing from NPR and after chuckling over some of the forum posts at on Ravelry where some people were clearly "bash*t insane" (because, really, when someone claims in all seriousness that she's been training since 2009 for this knitting event, and equates that with being an Olympic athlete?) I came straight here, sure that if you had addressed this at all, yours would be the voice of reason. And it is! Thanks again!

I don't tend to comment on blog postings, but this was one of your most well thought out and delivered posts ever and points to the best and the worst of the knitting community. Let's use those sharp needles for their intended use to bring beautiful art to the wearer and not against the world or each other.

Wow. Had no idea this was even in the wind!

Thanks for bringing it to my attention in a reasonable and well-explained manner, before I had a chance to get sucked into an argument. :)

While I totally understand where you and the USOC are coming from, for me it comes down to two things: Ravelympics, while clearly "related" to the Olympics, seems to be a different-enough name to not be an infringement. Personally, I would complain about the sports-related categories if that were the case. The other thing is the "represent" part that - since you led the charge - has been an uphill battle in recognizing knitters as not just little old ladies in rocking chairs, and that knitting is a cool thing, and that knitters *are* an economic force as well. This kind of puts us back a step.

But - you are right. The Olympic athletes do train very hard, and there are few who can do what they can do. Knitters work hard to become proficient, but ultimately millions of us can produce a well-knitted item.

Thanks for putting a voice of reason out there.

Well Done Steph, the voice of reason! You rule and thanks for your time and trouble to put a well thought out and knowledgeable lid on a hot situation.

Keep knitting and *passes some wine* have another glass you deserve it.

Because the Ravelympics "links" to the Olympics in numerous ways, it would probably not fare well in the courts. And the patterns cited used the rings (which is also forbidden by the IOC, so it is an international position).
I attended the Atlanta 1996 Olympics, which were criticized intensely for being too commercial. However, those foreign tourists that approached me all wanted their picture taken in front of the Coca Cola bottle.
I think that the law intern should be in charge of researching TNAA.org's relationship with Major League Baseball for "Stitch N'Pitch" and Dale of Norway's relationship with the IOC (which is more of what they are used to). This could be a win/win situation for both knitters and athletes...thinking yarn line in Olympic ring colors!!!
While I greatly admire and respect Olympic athletes for their skill set, I do not think that building yourself into the best athlete in a particular category necessarily makes you a "demi-god". We just don't give full recognition to many of those other fields because "competition" is really hard (and subjective) in neurosurgery or poetry or nursing or fire-fighting.

That was fabulous. Thank you.

Very well said, Stephanie! Thank you for posting this :)

I think Lynda the Guppy makes a good point about the poor intern - and I really hope they don't fire him, as they have used the terms 'denigrate' and 'disrespect' before, so those can't be blamed on his enthusiasm. (It is in the letter to the redneck olympics. http://www.sunjournal.com/oxford-hills/story/1074430 )

If anything, it took a bunch of knitters to point out to the USOC that legaleese or not, they need to polish their language to sound professional. I bet their next version of cease and desist will be better.

I do think knitting takes more effort and skill than at least some of the Olympic sports. You can't tell me table tennis requires more skill and training than knitting. Also, the Olympics, including Paralympics, is about competing in something and doing the best you can on as high a level as you can with others doing th

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