Well, they did it. Instead of giving up the fight in Oregon as I thought they might have, the MSF has just signaled that another round is starting. IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 15, 2006 - The Motorcycle Safety Foundation filed a lawsuit against Oregon State University, its president, and also against Stephen Garets, both individually and in his official capacity as director of the Team Oregon Motorcycle Safety Program of OSU, charging the parties with copyright infringement and violation of the MSF’s rights under the Lanham Act. The complete press release.

Update 12/29/2006: lawsuit (pdf file)

So why didn’t they sue the state of Oregon? Team Oregon is a partnership of Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Transportation. Maybe they’d rather not tangle with a state Attorney General or chance the possible negative publicity of doing so?

I must have been on happy weed when I thought the battle might be over. It’s not just Oregon that the MSF is concerned about. In addition to Oregon, Idaho and Hawaii have stopped using the MSF training curriculum. Earlier this year Colorado was going to look into using the Oregon curriculum. Washington is apparently looking at using the Oregon curriculum now. If the MSF didn’t do something who knows how many more states might jump off the MSF ship.

One thing they could have done but didn’t would have been to develop a quality curriculum that better meets the needs of the beginning motorcyclist. Instead, they chose to go with the ever popular American tradition, a lawsuit, to try and retain their dominance.

Shame on you MSF. And shame on everyone who blindly assumes the MSF is a benevolent organization that cares about the motorcycling public. They don’t. They are a manufacturer’s organization whose objectives are (1) to protect the interests of manufacturers and (2) help sell more motorcycles.