Manufacturers Aircraft Association

The Manufacturer's Aircraft Association (MAA) was a trade association and patent pool of U.S. aircraft manufacturers formed in 1917.

The U.S. military and other elements of the U.S. federal government pressured the Wright Company, the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, and other manufacturers to form the association to break a patent logjam that was preventing U.S. manufacturers from making airplanes that the U.S. military could use in World War I. Legally, the MAA was a private corporation which had an agreement with the airplane manufacturers to cross-license their patents without substantial royalties.[1][2][3]

The MAA was dissolved in 1977.[4]

  1. ^ Michael J. Madison; Brett M. Frischmann; Katherine J. Strandburg. 2010. Constructing commons in the cultural environment. Cornell Law Review 95:4 (May 2010), 657-709. (Notably pages 660-661.)
  2. ^ Carl Shapiro, Navigating the Patent Thicket: Cross Licenses, Patent Pools, and Standard Setting, in INNOVATION POLICY AND THE ECONOMY 119, 127–28, 134 (Adam B. Jaffe et al. eds., 2000). (pages 127–128.)
  3. ^ See Mfrs. Aircraft Ass’n, Inc. v. United States, 77 Ct. Cl. 481, 483–87 (1933); Harry T. Dykman, Patent Licensing Within the Manufacturer’s Aircraft Association (MAA), 46 J. PAT. OFF. SOC’Y 646, 648–50 (1964); Robert P. Merges, Contracting into Liability Rules: Intellectual Property Rights and Collective Rights Organizations, 84 CAL. L. REV. 1293, 1343–46 (1996).
  4. ^ "Manufacturers Aircraft Association records, 1843-1979". Archives West. Retrieved November 16, 2023.