Zippo versus Disney? The lighter versus the mouse? Believe it. The firm that makes those custom Zippo lighters you’ve been planning to get your colleagues and buddies for Christmas - yes, that Zippo - recently filed a lawsuit against ABC and Walt Disney. The bone of contention between the flamed and the mouse-eared? Why, it’s none other than the lighter’s brand name itself!

Zippo Manufacturing slapped Disney with the lawsuit in an Erie, Pennsylvania U.S federal court, claiming that an animated dinosaur from Disney’s vast empire of toons has no business cashing in on the Zippo name. In a statement, Zippo president Gregory W. Booth says there is no question the lighter company owns the rights to the name Zippo. Says Booth, “Zippo has been our trademark since our founder George Blaisdell began manufacturing and marketing our famous windproof lighters in 1932.”

As damages for the breach of copyright, Zippo is demanding that Disney rename the dinosaur and at the same, turn over to the lighter maker all profits made from the animated dinosaur’s merchandise.

Just who - or perhaps - what are these two Zippos, and why are they locked over naming issues? Ask your kids, and they would tell you the Zippo they know is that character in the cartoon mini-series Dinotopia. Based on a series of books by James Gurney, Dinotopia is that imaginary world where humans and dinosaurs live together. The second Zippo, on the other hand, is the one your buddies and you know the most about. After all, custom Zippo lighters are not just a man’s lighter; they are the man’s lighter. The 70-year-old brand first rocketed to fame during World War II, when U.S military-run outlets themselves distributed Zippos. Today, it has become not just a smoke-loving fan’s lighter of choice but a collector’s item, one that over four million people in the U.S alone collect. Zippos have become such iconic symbols, in fact, that they appeared in no less than 800 movies since they were first marketed in 1932.

It would be interesting to see how the tussle between the mouse and the lighter unfolds in the coming weeks. However, whatever the outcome and whoever wins, one thing remains clear. The dinosaur and the lighter would both make excellent gifts.