Coffee Shop Triggers Olympian Protest : New York: Olympic Restaurant name offends USOC. Committee accuses Greek immigrant and his 10-table eatery on the Lower East Side of copyright infringement.

At 44, Spiros Nakos can’t run very fast or jump that high. But the U.S. Olympic Committee is after him anyway--because his coffee shop is called the Olympic Restaurant.

The USOC has accused the Greek immigrant and his 10-table eatery on the Lower East Side of copyright infringement.

“I didn’t do this to abuse the name and make money,” Nakos said, standing alongside his freshly baked muffins. “I do it because I believe in this--the Olympics.”

In a pair of letters sent in October to Nakos’ graffiti-scrawled restaurant, the USOC warned the immigrant entrepreneur to discontinue the unauthorized use of the word “Olympic.”

The letters arrived 14 years after Nakos opened his coffee shop, which features a neon sign promising “The World’s Best Coffee” and a picture of the owner with President Clinton.

USOC spokesman Mike Moran said Nakos is just one of approximately 40,000 businesses that received similar letters this year for using Olympic insignias and terminology. The USOC uses these symbols to generate revenue. By allowing people to use this name without their consent, it loses out on money.

Moran was unsure how the USOC found out about Nakos’ restaurant, which caters to a small but loyal clientele.

Over a tuna sandwich, one patron, high school teacher Victor Acevedo, said: “I support him. He’s not some big shot. He’s just a guy trying to make a decent living.”

Nakos arrived in the United States in 1972 with $30 in his pocket. His version of the American dream came true: Nakos and his wife had three children, he became a citizen, and by 1980, he’d saved enough to open his own restaurant.

He decided to call it the Olympic Restaurant, paying homage to his native land, and included the five Olympic rings on its sign. “I feel like an Olympian when I get up in the morning and run over here,” he said.

But according to Moran, only those companies that pay the USOC a merchandising or copyright fee can translate that feeling into anything more tangible.

Trademark attorney Mark H. Sparrow of New York City said Nakos faces significant legal hurdles because of a 1978 federal law granting the USOC sole control of the word “Olympic” and the five rings.

Moran said the USOC will contact Nakos “and talk with him about where we might go from here.”

“We don’t seek to destroy businesses or individuals,” Moran said.

“I only want to save the name,” Nakos said. “Do you know what the Olympics mean to the Greeks? It goes back 5,000 years.”