UN-AMERICAN EXPRESS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 13, 1992                   TAG: 9202130056
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
UN-AMERICAN EXPRESS
The latest round in the Olympic credit card war has gone to Visa, which won a court ruling to stop the "ambush marketing" tactics of American Express.
Olympic officials said Wednesday that a French court found American Express guilty of "unfair competition" and issued an injunction to stop the company from using Olympic symbols in its advertising.
They also said American Express had reneged on an agreement not to use ambush ads.
The ruling, issued Feb. 4 by a court in Paris, ordered American Express to pay about $18,000 each to the French National Olympic Committee and the organizing committee of the Albertville Winter Games.
The suit was filed by the French officials on behalf of Visa, one of the 12 official sponsors of the 1992 Winter and Summer Games.
The sponsors, who are paying a total of $170 million, have exclusive rights to describe themselves as part of the Olympic movement. Visa's contribution to the sponsorship program, known by the acronym TOP, is reported to be around $20 million.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB