​​St. Louis Park Carpet Cleaner Sues Olympics Over Free Speech

A St. Louis Park business co-owner told reporters this week that he never anticipated being involved in free speech litigation involving the Olympics. But as of Thursday, he is.

Michael Kaplan, owner of the franchised St. Loius Park carpet cleaning company, Zerorez, filed a civil lawsuit in federal court this week against the U.S. Olympics Committee. The suit relates to the organization's sending of cease and desist letters demanding he remove social media posts that involve USOC trademarks, according to a Fox report. Its timing aligns with Friday evening's opening ceremonies for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

"The Olympics has trademarked words, phrases and hashtags," the Fox story said. "The words 'Olympics' and 'Olympian' are included in that list, which means if you’re not an individual, a media outlet or an official sponsor, you can’t use them. In fact, if you’re a business, the USOC doesn’t want you posting about the games at all, considering even simple conversations on social media to be marketing."

The USOC reportedly considers such mentions to be thefts of intellectual property.

Kaplan told Twin Cities Business that his lawyer is looking into the trademark parameters, which seem to be an "overreach." In some news coverage, Kaplan specifically cited the Olympic Committee's attempt to regulate his congratulatory posts shouting out Minnesota's competitors.

“We’re not trying to have brand alignment or be a corporate sponsor," he told Twin Cities Business. "We’re just trying to be patriotic and talk about sports.”