INDIANAPOLIS -- The National Fallen Firefighters' Foundation has filed suit to protect its "Everyone Goes Home" copyright and domain.
The measure was taken against Fire & Emergency Training Network (FETN) that has produced a training program entitled "Everybody Goes Home".
The suit came after extensive negotiations between NFFF and FETN officials failed, said Dennis Compton, chairman of the NFFF board.
"We worked hard to resolve this issue. But, we were not successful. It's something we feel strongly about," Compton said Friday afternoon.
FETN is a long time producer of training material for first responders. Their EMS Advisory Board lists a significant group within the fire service industry.
Compton said the use of such a similar slogan, the difference being NFFF's "everyone" and FETN's "everybody" to the foundation's worldwide logo is inappropriate. "We've filed suit asking that they discontinue using their mark."
Danny Hammett, president of the group that developed the training program, could not be reached for comment.
A FETN representative in the booth on the exhibition floor of the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) underway now in Indianapolis, where the "Everybody Goes Home" training program was being displayed, said he had no comment on the issue.
Foundation members said they felt the use of "Everybody Goes Home" is confusing to the public.
Compton also said the foundation has a copyright, and has to defend it. "If we don't, why would we have gotten one in the first place?"
The FETN web site describes the Everybody Goes Home Interactive Simulation Courseware as, "Everybody Goes Home" provides the opportunity to develop first-hand experience and split-second decision making skills in a variety of emergency situations that cannot be safely created at a training facility."
NFFF Chairman Emeritus Hal Bruno said he stands behind the effort to protect the program. "It should not be used for something commercial purposes. Our mission is to honor the dead by helping the families of the fallen heroes. I don't know that it would be supportive of our goals."
Further, Bruno said the foundation has a responsibility to the families of the fallen heroes to react. "The average person may think it's one in the same. It's too close in proximity..."
FETN is part of the TWL Knowledge Group.
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