ICC files lawsuit against NFPA
The International Code Council® (ICC) filed a “trademark infringement complaint” against the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) in federal district court in March. The action involves ICC`s “International Code” trademarks. According to the ICC, the complaint was filed after the ICC “became aware that the NFPA used the designation `International Electrical CodeTM Series` on its 1999 National Electrical Code® without ICC`s consent or authorization.” The ICC alleges that “NFPA`s in-fringing use of that designation was instigated with full knowledge of the rights ICC has in its `International Code` family of trademarks, and only after NFPA failed to secure permission from ICC to use ICC`s International Electrical Code trademark.”
NFPA President George D. Miller wrote in a letter to Jon S. Traw, ICC president, that “obviously, this action by ICC has regrettably made further negotiations between NFPA and ICC impossible.” Miller says “he approached Paul Heilstedt, who was then ICC president, last spring to see whether NFPA and ICC might re-explore cooperative initiatives, making it clear NFPA was willing to start with a blank page and consider the full range of possible agreements which might achieve a closer working relationship.”
The two organizations, Miller adds, “have had a series of negotiations over the past year … concerning numerous potential collaborations … . Open for discussion were some of ICC`s and NFPA`s most important documents, including ICC`s International Building CodeTM and International Fire Code® and NFPA`s Life Safety Code®, National Fuel Gas Code, Fire Prevention CodeTM, and National Electrical Code®.
Confirming that the “ICC has been in discussions with NFPA for the last year to consider the full range of possible agreements which might achieve a closer working relationship,” the ICC asserts: “Nevertheless, after a presentation by the president of ICC, which included information on ICC`s intent to produce a family of International Codes, NFPA applied for federal trademark registrations for several International Code titles, including the International Electrical Code. It is ICC`s belief that NFPA`s subsequent trademark infringement of ICC`s International Electrical Code is an apparent attempt to interfere with ICC`s business plans.”
According to Traw, the ICC did not intend to terminate negotiations with the NFPA with the filing of this trademark infringement complaint; it was “merely a matter of protecting the future of [ICC] code documents.”
The NFPA, on the other hand, says it has published NFPA 70, National Electrical Code (NEC)T for 88 years and that “in recent years, in response to demand from other countries, NFPA has made the NEC available in other languages for this use.”
ICC Board Chairman Mike Perrone says “the trademark complaint was filed with the intention of NFPA`s cooperation in removing the International Electrical Code trademark from the 1999 NECT.” ICC adds that it entered into negotiation with NFPA with “high hopes that the fundamental differences in philosophy, approach, and system for developing codes and standards between the two groups could be reconciled.”
