MARPA issues White Paper on Illustrated Parts Catalogs, PMA and Copyright Law

MARPA has published a white paper explaining the intellectual property ramifications of sharing a page from an illustrated parts catalog in support of an FAA-PMA application.

In order to produce an aircraft part in the United States, the producer typically needs to obtain design and production approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  A parts manufacturer approval (PMA) is a normal way to obtain aircraft parts design and production approval from the FAA. 

When applying for FAA approval, the PMA applicant needs to identify on what aircraft the part is installed. FAA Order 8110.42D provides instructions and guidance: it clarifies that the applicant is expected to identify installation eligibility of the aircraft part for installation.  It also explains that a PMA applicant can use information from sources like illustrated parts catalogs (IPC) to verify installation eligibility.

It has become very common for air carriers to provide a single page from the IPC in order to support the PMA applicant’s efforts to verify installation eligibility. An air carrier member and a PMA manufacturing member jointly requested MARPA to address this issue for the industry.

The MARPA White Paper investigates the question:

Is it a copyright violation if an air carrier copies a page out of an illustrated parts catalog (IPC) and shares the page with a partner (such as a PMA manufacturer) for the express purpose of demonstrating to the FAA the installation eligibility of an aircraft part that is the subject of a PMA application?

It also provides practical advice to MARPA members about this issue.

The White paper is available to MARPA members (for free) through the Membership and Meetings page of the MARPA blog. You can also go more directly to the White Paper download page.

If you are a MARPA member but are unable to download the White paper, it may mean that your company is not yet registered (OR that YOU may not yet be registered under your company’s membership) on the new online portal that MARPA is using to make this sort of material available. Please contact Katt if this is a problem and she will help get you registered in the system (this is important because this is also the new mechanism for registering for MARPA meetings to make that process more convenient and to ensure that you get your MARPA discount).