Last week, U.S. Olympic Committee attorneys sent SF State officials a letter that may force the university to cancel the RobOlympics, an on-campus international robotics competition with hundreds of mechanical contestants from across the globe. At issue is the event organizers’ use of the term ‘Olympics,’ a word that USOC lawyers claim belongs exclusively to the well-known human athletics event held every two years.

“We have heard that there’s a dispute between the (RobOlympics) organizers and the U.S. Olympic Committee regarding use of ‘Olympics,’” said SF State Public Affairs spokesperson Ellen Griffin in an email on Friday. “That dispute will have to be resolved for the event to be held on our campus.”

SF State engineering department faculty member David Calkins, president of the Robotics Society of America and the lead organizer for this year’s RobOlympics, calls his high-tech competition the largest annual robot exposition and demonstration held in the United States. On Friday, Calkins said he had registered 449 robotic athletes from as far away as Iran, Australia, Brazil, Germany and Japan to battle it out on the SF State campus during the late March spring break recess.

If SF State officials pull the plug on Calkins’ campus-based competition, RobOlympics organizers will have to find another place to hold the robot games before the scheduled start on March 24.

“We’re looking into other venues,” said Calkins during a phone interview.

Calkins also said that he denies misusing the Olympics moniker.

“We’re not in violation of the law – but they (the USOC) shut everyone down,” said Calkins. “Basically, we’re planning on changing the name. If we do change the name, why does the USOC have any say in what we do?”

“I’m really surprised that they (SF State officials) are being so weak-kneed about this issue,” said Calkins.

According to Scott Gerien, an attorney with the San Francisco trademark specialist legal firm of Owen, Wickersham and Erickson, the USOC may hold the upper hand in any dispute over the word ‘Olympics.’

“The Olympics present a unique situation because they have special protection,” said Gerien. “They’re (the USOC) pretty aggressive about enforcing the rights, no matter what.”

In 1978, Congress passed the Amateur Sports Act, a law that grants the USOC exclusive use of the word ‘Olympics.’ The Act also lowers the legal standard for the USOC to prevent others from using the term.

“They (the USOC) can say, ‘We have this law, they’re using the word ‘Olympic,’ we win,’” said Gerien. “It’s a slam-dunk for them.”

San Francisco judge Richard Horning said on Friday that he’s willing to represent Calkins and the Robotics Society of America pro-bono, should the need arise.

“To my knowledge, nothing has been filed, certainly not in the Federal court in San Francisco,” said Horning. “The only thing I’m aware of is a cease and desist letter.”

Calls made to the USOC’s offices in Colorado were not returned as of last Friday evening. Attempts last week to contact SF State attorney Patricia Bartscher and obtain a copy of the cease and desist letter sent to the college by the USOC were also unsuccessful.

By pitting mechanical alter egos against human cunning and creativity, Calkins said he hoped to get RobOlympics players to communicate with each other during the four-day robot games event, sharing ideas and advancing the state of the art in robotics.
But unless SF State officials quickly reverse course, the RobOlympics may not take place this year, disappointing thousands of fans and over 500 registered contestants.

SF State spokesperson Griffin said she wants the competition to go ahead as scheduled, provided Calkins and the USOC can iron out their differences.

“We hope the organizers and Olympic committee can work something out – this competition promises to be a fun event for our campus,” said Griffin.

“This is something that’s being cancelled three weeks out,” said Calkins. “We’ve got people coming from a total of 12 different countries – it’s not something that we can just cancel.”