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.”
Coming as no surprise to anyone with a passing knowledge of copyright law and half a brain in their head, the MSF has thrown in the towel in its lawsuit against Team Oregon.
My favorite quote is the following:
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.”
Oh, snap!
You can read the full press release here: http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-news/2009/team-oregon-msf-lawsuit.htm
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Interestingly, there were 10 “John Does” listed in the suit. The joke around T/O was about Stevie G and his 10 Does. I was apparently considered one of those Does. One night this guy shows up at my door with some paperwork. He’s a process server and has a subpoena for me courtesy of the MSF. Since I was the Chair of the initial BRC task force, did some field testing, etc., they thought I had info they wanted. I was supposed to produce all my notes, task force minutes, records of conversations, copies of early materials, and so on. I called Garets to let him know about this.
Next thing you know I get this big packet in the mail from the State of Oregon Justice Department. I figured I was in trouble since I didn’t make the connection. I must have a guilty conscience about something, somewhere, in my life. To my relief, it was an offer to represent me in the suit at no cost to myself. Whew!
It was all a fizzle since I had nothing that TEAM OREGON hadn’t already supplied. Still, though, it was interesting to be drug into it a little bit.
Thanks for posting this!
I suppose that’s an honor, in an underhanded way! When’s your birthday, I’ll get you a shirt that says “THREAT TO THE MSF” on it.
One thing that impresses me is that Team Oregon and the State of Oregon had your back.