Olympic Airways and the "Olympic Logo"

The recent olympic games in Greece reminded me

of the founding of the (now) Greek national airline.



When Aristotle Onassis founded Olympic Airways

in august 1957 (his own private company), he chose the

Olympic Logo for his company.

As soon as they heard, the Olympic Committee forbade him

to use "their" Olympic logo of 5 interlinked circles.

It turned fairly nasty, but eventually Onassis lost the case

and was forced to change his Company's colour scheme,

including aircraft, ticket offices, letter-heads etc.



Not many people remember that. ;-))



retired/uk.

On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 22:32:32 +0100, "Retired"
wrote:

The recent olympic games in Greece reminded me

of the founding of the (now) Greek national airline.



When Aristotle Onassis founded Olympic Airways

in august 1957 (his own private company), he chose the

Olympic Logo for his company.

As soon as they heard, the Olympic Committee forbade him

to use "their" Olympic logo of 5 interlinked circles.

It turned fairly nasty, but eventually Onassis lost the case

and was forced to change his Company's colour scheme,

including aircraft, ticket offices, letter-heads etc.



Not many people remember that. ;-))



retired/uk.

If I remember rightly didnt the interlinked circles appear on a blue
background on the tails of the Comet 4bs? LHR-ATH-NIC routes amongst
others.

"Retired" wrote in message
...
The recent olympic games in Greece reminded me

of the founding of the (now) Greek national airline.



When Aristotle Onassis founded Olympic Airways

in august 1957 (his own private company), he chose the

Olympic Logo for his company.

As soon as they heard, the Olympic Committee forbade him

to use "their" Olympic logo of 5 interlinked circles.

It turned fairly nasty, but eventually Onassis lost the case

and was forced to change his Company's colour scheme,

including aircraft, ticket offices, letter-heads etc.



Funny you should mention it.

The Australian Olympic Committee today issued a lawsuit claiming substantial
damages from the owners of the Olympic Hotel in suburban Melbourne. The
hotel is a short distance from the 1956 Athlete's Village. It was
established a month or so before the Melbourne Games and has traded
continuously since then with the five ring symbol in various forms outside
the entrance. Now, after nearly 50 years, the AOC has turned nasty and is
garnering some very unfavourable publicity for itself.