Canadian organizers tighten grips on Olympic ring

Canada's 2010 winter Olympic games organizing Committee in Vancouver is cracking down on companies using the Olympic name who are not official sponsors, reports reaching Ottawa on October 29.

According to report by Canadian Broadcast Corporation, The committee has sent out dozens of letters to businesses in Canada's British Columbia Province, ordering them to make changes C even businesses that had their names for years before the Vancouver Olympic bid.

Mosi Alvand, the co-owner of Vancouver's Olympia restaurant has been told he has to change his restaurant's name and to remove the Olympic torch and rings from his sign.

"This letter was a shocking letter, and a threatening letter C 'you have to bring it down, you have to cease this and this name belongs to (the) Olympics.' It was bad news for us," he says.

Alvand says he has spent years building up the reputation of his restaurant. He worries a name change would destroy his business. And he plans to hire a lawyer to fight the demands.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee says the bottom line is anyone who is not an official sponsor should not be using the Olympic name or symbols.

Source: Xinhua