Team Oregon Wins
Settlement in Motorcycle Safety Foundation Lawsuit
January 7, 2009 - The TEAM OREGON Motorcycle Safety
Program has announced that the Motorcycle Safety
Foundation (MSF) has agreed to drop their copyright
infringement lawsuit against Dr. Edward Ray, on behalf
of Oregon State University, and Steve Garets, Director
of TEAM OREGON.
The Settlement Agreement was finalized on December
19, 2008. The MSF agreed to abandon its lawsuit
without any payment whatsoever from TEAM OREGON and
“With Prejudice,” meaning that the MSF cannot file such
a lawsuit against TEAM OREGON ever again.
“The MSF was unable to present any proof that TEAM
OREGON had, in fact, violated their copyrights,” said
Steve Garets, Director of the TEAM OREGON Motorcycle
Safety Program.
“We consulted with numerous
copyright experts before and after these curricula were
published. We felt confident all along that there
never were any copyright infringements. We are
glad to put this behind us and move forward in providing
high quality training for Oregon’s riders.”
The MSF, a California-based corporation owned by the
major motorcycle manufacturers including Harley
Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, sells
their training materials nationally.
The MSF initially filed their suit in 2006 after TEAM
OREGON refused to subscribe to the latest MSF curriculum
and instead developed an Oregon-specific motorcycle
training program of its own. MSF pressed the suit
forward after the Oregon Department of Transportation
denied their request to approve the MSF curriculum for a
waiver of motorcycle license testing.
”TEAM OREGON built on over 40 years of experience and
research to develop our own original curricula,” said
Garets. “There are some ideas in motorcycle safety
that nobody can claim as their own intellectual
property. Many of those concepts existed long
before the MSF was founded and have been in widespread
use ever since.”
In the Settlement Agreement, the MSF recognizes that
TEAM OREGON has valid claims of copyright in TEAM OREGON
curriculum materials. As a condition of the
settlement MSF insisted that TEAM OREGON accept a free
license to incorporate MSF’s copyrighted materials in
TEAM OREGON’s publications.
As in the past, however, TEAM OREGON will not
incorporate any MSF copyrighted materials in any of the
TEAM OREGON curricula. “We didn’t want or need
this license but they insisted that we take it and they
gave it to us for free,” Garets said. “We have no
desire to include MSF-owned material in our publications
and we’ll continue to preserve the integrity of our
curricula.”
“TEAM OREGON never marketed this program outside of
Oregon, although a number of state motorcycle safety
programs expressed interest,” he remarked. “We
will continue to do exactly what we have been doing in
providing the best possible motorcycle safety training
for Oregon.”
“This case was a test to learn who, if anyone, really
owns motorcycle rider instruction,” said Garets.
“We have an obligation to provide training that fits the
unique needs of Oregon’s riders. It is now clear
that we have every right to design and deliver that
training”
“I am very satisfied with this outcome and would like
to thank the Oregon Department of Justice and Oregon
State University for defending this suit so ably and
tenaciously,” Garets added. “In protecting our
freedom to design high-quality motorcycle training
programs they’ve done a great service to the citizens of
Oregon and to the entire country.”
The TEAM OREGON Motorcycle Safety Program is
sponsored by Oregon State University and the Oregon
Department of Transportation. TEAM OREGON's goal
is to foster and promote safe motorcycle operation
through quality rider education programs and public
information campaigns. TEAM OREGON is funded by a
fee on motorcycle license endorsements. (Source: TEAM
OREGON press release)
