MSF Settles With Team Oregon Program

The MSF filed its lawsuit against the Team Oregon program, directed by Oregon State University, in 2006 saying course material from the MSFs motorcycle training programs were used without permission in Team Oregons Basic Rider Training materials.

We are pleased with the settlement in which the integrity of MSFs intellectual property rights was acknowledged, says Tim Buche, president of the MSF. Its unfortunate that a lawsuit was necessary to reach a resolution of this dispute.

Under the terms of the settlement, Team Oregon has acknowledged that the MSF had valid claims of copyright in the materials in question. The MSF also acknowledged, as it had since the dispute began, that Team Oregon has valid claims of copyright as well.

MSF has always contended that an author owns the copyright to those aspects of a publication that actually are original to the author, says Buche.

The MSF has granted permission for its copyrighted work to be used in Team Oregons course materials within the State of Oregon. Team Oregon may no longer market or distribute its course materials outside of the state.

According to the MSF, these were substantially the same terms it offered in October 2006 which Team Oregon rejected without a counter-offer. The MSF filed its suit in December 2006.

While we needed to protect our intellectual property, as any organization has an obligation to do, we continued to dedicate our resources to developing world-class curricula and supporting MSF programs to enhance the safety of our fellow riders, says Buche. Thats been our mission from day one, and that continues to be our focus as we move forward.