PORT ANGELES — Olympic Cellars principal owner Kathy Charlton says she’s close to resolving a dispute with the U.S. Olympic Committee over her winery’s use of the word Olympic.
Late last year, USOC attorney Kelly Maser wrote Charlton to warn her away from marketing her wines outside the Olympic region.
The Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1998 gives the committee exclusive commercial control of the word, with one exception: businesses in Western Washington, near the mountain range and peninsula bearing the Olympic name.
Charlton, who would like to build Olympic Cellars’ clientele all over the state and nation, has since had many discussions with the USOC.
The committee’s assistant general counsel has approved an agreement, Charlton said earlier this month.
She declined to give details.
Another USOC official, who has been in Beijing, the site of this summer’s Olympic Games, has yet to sign off on the pact, she said.
Charlton said she hopes to finalize the agreement by August.
