A decision by the Canadian Olympic Committee to drop its opposition to a proposed logo for a gay men's chat line has left a company official feeling "tickled pink."

"I am completely thrilled," Joe Rachert, a senior manager with Interactive Male, said Tuesday. "We have invested huge in this for five years. The idea of having to rebrand and recommunicate with your audience, (we have) no desire to do that.

"I am tickled pink over the whole thing."

Interactive Male, a Vancouver-based company that calls itself North America's largest chat line for gay and bisexual men, had been battling with the COC since March 2005 over its application with the Canadian Trademark Office.

The COC had argued the chat line's logo resembled Olympic sporting event symbols used in the 1970s.

Chris Rudge, the COC's chief executive officer, said the case began several years ago and was "one of these things that slips between the cracks."

Upon examining the logo, Rudge said there was no reason to oppose its use.

"Upon looking at the image that this organization has on its website, I would agree with them it would be absurd for us to be protesting this," he said in a telephone interview.

"I have already talked to our lawyers. I have asked them to withdraw the opposition to the registration of that mark. They would be free to use it, from my perspective."

The logo is a stylized M, with two eyes, which looks like two men embracing. It bears a resemblance to the wrestling logo used at Olympic Games.

"To the gay community that is a completely representational logo," said Rachert. "We get it right away. We know what that is. It's two men looking at each other.

"It fits the product. It fits the brand. It hits our target market right on the head."

Rudge said the logo dispute wasn't on the COC's radar.

"This occurred three or four years ago," he said. "There is a process in place where our counsel, on our behalf, scruntinizes images that are being registered.

"There are some broad-based instructions to deal with those things. I assume something slipped between the cracks in that process."

Interactive Male issued a press release Tuesday saying they were prepared to fight the COC over use of the logo.

"Our advertising reflects our logo, and often depicts two male models interacting in a manner that does not resemble any Olympic sporting activity that I've even seen," the release said. "Of course, there's always a little sport involved in dating."

Rachert was happy any court action had been avoided.

"This has been an enormous drain on my resources, both time and financial," he said. "This will be a enormous relief to the company and myself and the brand.

"This means now we don't have to rebrand. We don't have go out and change our logo."

Rachert said his company supports the 2010 Winter Olympic Games coming to Vancouver.

"The Olympics are going to bring a ton of business to this city," he said. "We want to be part of that.

"We want the Olympics here."