Manufacturers Aircraft Association.

The Manufacturers Aircraft Association Inc. was created in 1917 by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to administer a cross-license agreement, issue licenses to aircraft companies, aid the aircraft industry, and encourage aeronautical development. The subscribers were airplane manufacturers who were stockholders and paid fees for every plane that they manufactured. The association protected its members' patent rights. From the day of its incorporation the motives of the manufacturers and the government were publically attacked by the press and Congress. The association was investigated numerous times by congressional committees throughout its history. In 1965 the government filed an anti-trust suit against the association. After a lengthy legal battle, the M.A.A. was dissolved in 1977.

The Manufacturers Aircraft Association Inc. was created in 1917 by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to administer a cross-license agreement, issue licenses to aircraft companies, aid the aircraft industry, and encourage aeronautical development. The subscribers were airplane manufacturers who were stockholders and paid fees for every plane that they manufactured. The association protected its members' patent rights. From the day of its incorporation the motives of the manufacturers and the government were publically attacked by the press and Congress. The association was investigated numerous times by congressional committees throughout its history. In 1965 the government filed an anti-trust suit against the association. After a lengthy legal battle, the M.A.A. was dissolved in 1977.

The Association came into being when the United States government realized the utility of aircraft in military operations in 1916. Therefore inventions, patents, and design rights applicable to aircraft became a national interest. Because aeronautical development in the United Stated was seriously retarded by litigation over the validity and value of important airplane patents, the government thought that natural expansion and normal growth of the industry seemed impossible. In 1917 the Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Acting Secretary of the Navy, and Hon. W.M. Ingraham, then Acting Secretary of War, requested the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to study this problem (the N.A.C.A. was created by congress in 1915 to advise the president and the executive departments on aeronautical questions).

The N.A.C.A.'s plan was to create an organization independent of the government. The Manufacturers Aircraft Association was formed to administer a cross-license agreement, issue licenses, aid the aircraft industry, and encourage aeronautical development. The M.A.A. was incorporated in the State of New York in 1917. The subscribers of the association were airplane manufacturers. They were stockholders and paid fees to the association for every airplane that they manufactured. In return the association protected their patent rights. It had a patent research division, extensive files on patent history, and published informational bulletins and reports for the subscribers.

From the day of its incorporation the motives of the subscribers and the government were publicly attacked by the press and some members of congress. The association was investigated numerous times by congressional committees throughout its history. Its policies and procedures were always found blameless by the committees. In 1965 the government filed an anti-trust suit against the association. After a lengthy legal battle, the M.A.A. was dissolved in 1977.