Iraqi midfielder Salih Sadir scored a goal here on Wednesday night, setting off a rousing celebration among the 1,500 Iraqi soccer supporters at Pampeloponnisiako Stadium. Though Iraq -- the surprise team of the Olympics -- would lose to Morocco 2-1, it hardly mattered as the Iraqis won Group D with a 2-1 record and now face Australia in the quarterfinals on Sunday.Since I am a law student and I've been brainwashed, the first thing I thought of was "Can they sue in federal court under the Lanham Act for false endorsement?"
Afterward, Sadir had a message for U.S. president George W. Bush, who is using the Iraqi Olympic team in his latest re-election campaign advertisements.
In those spots, the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear as a narrator says, "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations -- and two fewer terrorist regimes."
"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," Sadir told SI.com through a translator, speaking calmly and directly. "He can find another way to advertise himself."
My initial response is "no," but I'll get back to this later. I have a few things to do at work.
1 comment:
No Lanham act violation; one would have to prove a whole bunch of things.
I'd get it thrown out of court on standing grounds; the injury is to the Iraqi people, a class so large they constitute a nation, and therefore only international diplomacy and its related fora can resolve this dispute.
- Ben
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