Aircraft certification questions.

psyshrike wrote:


This _has_ to be in direct conflict with the USPTO.

It's not a CONFLICT at all. The FAA doesn't affect the trademark
protections. They still apply. It doesn't give any more or less
protections to what a trademark protects.

What the FAA has you by the horns, is the ability to manufacture and
in term have your customers get approval for use in certficated aircraft.
I could clone the Continental engine and use it in an airboat just fine.
I could clone it and use it in a homebuilt just fine. It's the use in
certificate aircraft.

There's certainly lots of NON-FAA precedent out there as well. If you
think the FAA parts certification is full of crap, try getting a medical
device certified. The FAA paperwork process looks streamlined compared
to the FDA.

So every TC is effectively a patent, with NO EXPIRATION DATE.

Nope, it's not a patent.

I can't emagine this would hold up in court

It's simple. The Congress, via the commerce clause in the Constitution
among other things, has vested authority in the Federal Aviation Administration
to establish rules pertaining to safety in air commerce. The certification/
production rules are a direct outgrowth of this.

Anybody else think this a
major factor in why everything in GA is so damned expensive?

Nope, a major reason GA is so damned expensive is a combination of
product liability and the fact that the GA market is so tiny,

Innovators _by_law_ have to start from scratch. If home construction
was this way, we'd all be living in mud huts.

They don't have from scratch....nothing stops them from using other peoples
innovations not protected by patent.

Don't get me wrong. I admire the guys designing new stuff. But this
reg basically stomps price competition. Nobody will ever be able to
price-compete because the FAA ensures that nobody can gain the
benefits of "Previous Art" ( patent lingo for: the other-dudes-stuff).

Sorry, nothing prevents them from using previuos art. I can steal
all the aspects of Lycoming or Continentals design to build a new engine.
Their design (which is what patents support) is free for me to pick and
choose from. What I don't get a free pass around is showing my new
engine is safe to the FAA's standard.

The thing that interests me, is why hasn't it been challenged? Or has
it? If it actually went to court, there could be all kinds of nasty
allegations and investigations. This does after all directly effect
market competion, and they ain't the SEC.

It hasn't been challenged because there's no basis to challenge it.

How does this affect competition at all? There's no preferential structure
given to any entity. All are free to put their part through certification
(even if it is the same as before).

As a matter of fact your idea will most likely decrease competition. People
wouldn't want to be the FIRST to go through certification if they knew that the
second guy is just going to steal the idea of the first.