Olympic Provisions, Portland's charcuterie giant and one of the city's best known food brands, has changed its name to "Olympia Provisions" after the company received a cease-and-desist notice in September 2014 from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the organization that regulates the Olympic Games, Eater reported.

"We actually thought it was a joke when it was first sent to us," co-owner Michelle Cairo told The Oregonian. "We did a name search, a LLC search and had a lawyer set up [the name] for us when we first opened, but [the trademark issue] never came up."

The company has reached a deal with the IOC that will allow them to slowly phase out the old label and branding over the course of 2015, but with a cookbook coming out in October, Olympic Provisions is expecting to finish their rebrand by summer's end. For now, existing labels will have the letter "A" stamped over the "C".

"Hopefully there's not too much customer confusion; it's barely noticeable," Cairo said. "A lot of people will probably think we were always Olympia Provisions."

According to the National Trademark Association and the United States Olympic Committee, not only is the word "Olympic" protected, but the organization "actively police[s]" the Olympic trademarks to "protect the Olympic corporate sponsors against dilution of the value" of the brand.

Currently, the only restaurant and meat company allowed to use the name is McDonald's and Tyson Foods, respectively. Their sponsorships, along with a handful of other companies between 2009 and 2012, were worth an estimated $957 million.

Olympic Provisions opened in 2009 in the Olympic Mills Commerce Center -- the Central Southeast Industrial District building from which it takes its name -- as a sophomore effort from the team behind downtown's Clyde Common. Clyde Common chef Jason Barwikowski moved over to man the cramped Mediterranean inspired kitchen, while Elias Cairo, a former chef at Castagna, launched the cured meat program. In 2011, Olympic Provisions expanded with a second restaurant fronting an 800-square foot, USDA-certified meat-curing facility in Northwest Portland.

Today, the company's salumi can be found on the menus of hip Brooklyn beer bars, on the shelves of Napa Valley grocery stores and in at least 25 states in between.