Olympic committee tries to lay claim to ‘2012’

STEVE CHIOTAKIS: In Britain, one argument’s been settled over the use of 2012 in a name. The company called Great Exhibition 2012 has beaten off a legal threat from the organizers of the London Olympic games.

From London, here’s Marketplace’s Stephen Beard.

STEPHEN BEARD: With the eyes of the world on London, with the Olympic Games, Julie Benson figured this would be a good time to promote Britain. So she organized a great festival — a series of exhibitions, concerts, shows and other events celebrating U.K. industry, art and architecture. But the Olympic organizers stepped in a threatened legal action if she used the date — 2012 — because it would illegally latch onto the Olympic Games.

Now under a hail of bad publicity, the Olympic committee’s withdrawn it’s objection, much to Julie Benson’s relief.

JULIE BENSON: We were celebrating, yes. But something very different to sport. But they realized that actually we could work together, you know in the sense that they could have London 2012 and we’ll be in the heart of England celebrating everything else.

The Olympic lawyers have now reportedly moved on to an easier target, and are threatening a butcher to designed a logo involving five-interlinked rings of sausages.

In London, I’m Stephen Beard for Marketplace.