NAFI Says It Will "Vigorously And Adamantly Oppose" The
Move
Two weeks after a lawsuit was served on the National
Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) for copyright infringement
and unfair competition, a Motion for Preliminary Injunction has
been filed to put a halt to what is described in the motion as
NAFI's unauthorized use of Master Instructor Program-related
intellectual property.
The motion was filed in the United States District Court for the
Central District of California on October 14, on behalf of
Plaintiffs Sandy and JoAnn Hill, who claim authorship for the
creation of the Master Instructor Program. Joining them is Rich
Stowell, creator of the Aerobatic Instructor Designation Program, a
derivative of the Hills' work.
According to the motion, the Hills "conceived of the idea of
creating a continuing education and credentialing program for
professional flight instructors" in the early 1990's. The Hills
researched and wrote the program on their own volition from 1995 to
1997. The NAFI board "made no motions and held no votes" in
response to drafts of the program presented to them by the Hills.
Moreover, NAFI "never employed or compensated [the Hills] to
develop and author" the program. The motion further asserts:
There is no written agreement between [the Hills] and NAFI
specifying that the Master CFI Program is a work for hire owned by
NAFI. There is also no written agreement between [the Hills] and
NAFI purporting to transfer ownership of the copyrights to the
Master CFI Program to NAFI.
The motion says NAFI's royalty-free, non-exclusive license to
provide the Master Instructor Program to its members was terminated
earlier this year, yet the organization continues to misappropriate
program materials. The motion stresses that NAFI's conduct "is
clearly having an adverse impact on the economic value of the
Master Instructor Program [and] has caused and will continue to
cause confusion and resentment among flight instructors regarding
the status, source, and origin" of the program. NAFI has until
October 26th to respond to the motion.
NAFI responded that it will "vigorously and adamantly oppose
any legal action that seeks to prohibit it from issuing new and
renewal NAFI Master Instructor accreditations."
"Two former board members filed suit in federal court in Los
Angeles last month, claiming they own the NAFI Master Instructor
program, the organization's 12-year-old professional development
program," NAFI said in a news release. "They have continued to
escalate the dispute by filing a motion for preliminary injunction
on October 14 to stop NAFI from operating NAFI's program. The court
has not granted the injunction-and will not take any action
regarding the matter, until evidence from both sides is heard."
"In spite of the motion, we're standing by our NAFI Master
Instructor accreditation program, as well as those members who have
received new and renewal accreditations in good faith," said NAFI
Executive Director Jason Blair. "We certainly don't agree with the
allegations that have been made, and we will lay out our case in
the appropriate court when that time comes. We trust that, through
the legal process, NAFI's operation of its NAFI Master Instructor
program will be vindicated with a finding by the court that doesn't
penalize our members for their hard work and dedication to the
industry."
FMI: www.masterinstructors.org,
www.nafinet.org