Alan "Ollie" Gelfand * is the undisputed inventor of the Ollie.

At stake is whether Gelfand owns the trademark to the term "Ollie" as used in the naming of commercial products.

Gelfand, who invented the Ollie in 1976, asserts that he owns the rights to the name "Ollie", and claims that companies have infringed upon his trademarking rights, and that he deserves compensation for its use.

According to several media channels, Gelfand is taking Disney, Sega *, and Ron Jon Surf Shop to court over their use of the word "Ollie" in association with skateboard related products.

He is seeking more than $20 million in damages in a Broward, Florida * circuit court.

Sega Corporation sells an arcade game about skateboarding called Ollie King, reportedly for $9,779.99. A Sega lawyer, Gerald O. Sweeney Jr., was quoted by the Miami * Herald as writing that "Sega is confident that Mr. Gelfand does not have a valid legal basis for suing Sega."

Disney markets an Extreme Skate Adventure video game featuring an "Olliewood" area, which also the name of Galfand's real-world Hollywood *, Florida skatepark *.

Retailer Ron Jon Surf Shop is also named in the lawsuit, but company officials say they stopped selling "Ollieboards" after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Gelfand's lawyer.

Reports indicate that the lawsuit does not mention the Activision * / Neversoft Tony Hawk Pro Skater * franchise of video games, apparently because the games use the term ollie in its non-infringing form, to describe the basic skateboard stunt in which a skateboarder jumps with a skateboard without using their hands.

According to Mark Whiteley, editor in chief of San Francisco * based SLAP Magazine, most young skateboarders today have no idea who Gelfand is.

"The only people who really remember (the source of the word Ollie) are people who were around then or people who are interested in skateboarding history," Whiteley was quoted as saying. "I don't know if anyone under the age of 25 knows it came from a person."

The word Ollie is also listed in the Oxford English * Dictionary as both a noun and a verb.

"I'm just a skateboarder," Gelfand was quoted as saying about the lawsuit, "I'm not a huge, mega corporation... yet."

This article was based on information provided by the Associated Press and United Press International, and as found in articles in the St. Petersburg Times, joystiq.com, and GameDaily Biz.

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