Robolympics founder David Calkins was surprised when he opened a letter from the United States Olympic Committee demanding his group stop using the word "olympic" to describe a robotics competition.
The letter from USOC assistant general counsel Kelly Maynard was dated Nov. 20, 2003 -- shortly after Calkins had filed papers to register the name as a trademark for the robot event.
"The last time I checked, the USOC wasn't hosting robot sumo events," said Calkins. "Common sense dictates that no one would confuse a 6-pound hunk of steel and plastic with Picabo Street, nor would this dilute her image or in any way disrespect her accomplishments.
"We won't compete against them in the 50-yard dash, so I don't see why they won't help us to create an aptly named forum for competing in robotic line-following or robot firefighting," he said.
The word "olympics" dates back to ancient Greece, but its use as a protected brand in America was established by Congress in the 20th century through the Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act.
Under that law, the USOC is granted exclusive rights to the use of words and logos relating to the modern Olympic games -- including the term "olympic."
"We are authorized by federal statute to regulate use of the word -- it's not only our right, but our responsibility," said USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel.
While the USOC claims to have pursued hundreds of cases of alleged misuse, Seibel acknowledges that this is the first such case to involve robots.
"The USOC and participating athletes rely heavily on the support of official sponsors and licensees," said Seibel. "Sponsorship benefits can include the right to use the word 'olympic,' so if we don't protect the term, then we are devaluing it and hindering our ability to provide support to America's athletes."
But Robolympics organizers argue that the congressional act grants exclusive usage for athletic events, specifically. Since only robots -- not human athletes -- compete in the Robolympics, they believe the USOC should simply leave the robots (and the people who love them) alone.
Calkins also volunteers as president of the Robotics Society of America, and serves as judge for robotics television shows and events such as BattleBots and NASA's First Lego League robotic challenge. He said the Robolympics evolved from a robotics expo first held in San Francisco in 1998.
Organizers say the event -- which is scheduled for March 20 and 21, 2004, in San Francisco -- will gather robot hobbyists and professional bot developers from around the world for a variety of demonstrations intended to encourage attendees to become more involved in engineering, programming and related disciplines.
"I see a lot of very smart people who could do much better if they cross-trained, so the point was to create an event in which all major robot competitions were held at the same time in the same place," Calkins said. "Even though each competitor wouldn't compete in every event, they'd interact with people from other disciplines, and learn how to become better engineers, better students, better teachers and better humans."
Calkins said the Robolympics group is working with attorney Jennifer Granick, director of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, on defense options. Robolympics has also created a donation page on its website to gather legal support funds, and its federal trademark application is reportedly still under review.
"A number of legal options are available to us, and the matter can easily be resolved," said the USOC's Seibel. "The word carries value and importance -- we don't question why they're attracted to the idea of using it in their name, and most cases like this involve unintentional misuse."
The USOC requested a response from Robolympics by Dec. 5. Calkins said the group filed a response on December 8 and has not yet received a counter response from the USOC.
"Basically our response says ... (that) Robolympics has no bearing on the human Olympics," says Calkins. "We don't compete with the human events, and there's no possible way to confuse a ten-pound robot with Jesse Owens."
