Business
& Labor
Code Groups Settle Copyright Lawsuit
(archrecord.construction.com - 10/13/2006)
By Tony
Illia
A lengthy legal feud between the International
Code Council of Falls Church, Virginia, and Quincy, Massachusetts-based
National Fire Protection Association, ended in August when
the groups reached out-of-court settlements over three lawsuits.
The cases all involved copyright and trademark issues: In
2002, the ICC sued NFPA for copyright infringement over its
International Building Code; NFPA, in response, sued ICC a
year later for trademark infringement of its International
Electrical Code. A third suit involved ICC's use of the phrase
"Certified Building Official," which violated a
1999 settlement agreement. ICC has agreed to discontinue using
the challenged trademarks. The settlement also calls for ICC
to pay NFPA an unspecified amount of money for legal fees,
and withdraw from using any challenged trademarks in the future.
Neither party admits any liability or wrongdoing in the cases.
Established in 1896, NFPA has 79,000
individual and 80 trade organization members. Its 300 codes
and standards are considered an authoritative source on public
safety. ICC, by contrast, was started in 1994 from the founders
of the Building Officials and Code Administrators International,
International Conference of Building Officials, and Southern
Building Code Congress International. Its purpose was to consolidate
several building codes in use throughout the U.S. into one
code.
"We were confident [that]
we would win the cases, but at a tremendous expense into the
millions of dollars," said Rick Weiland, ICC's chief
operating officer, in a statement. "The time has come
to put these disputes behind us."
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