{"id":11389,"date":"2026-09-10T15:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.ccocert.org\/?p=11389"},"modified":"2026-10-02T12:27:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T12:27:05","slug":"court-awards-judgment-and-issues-injunction-for-infringement-of-cco-examinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ccocert.org\/en\/court-awards-judgment-and-issues-injunction-for-infringement-of-cco-examinations\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Awards Judgment and Issues Injunction for Infringement of CCO Examinations"},"content":{"rendered":"

January 4, 2022<\/em>\u2014A federal judge in Alabama has awarded CCO a nearly $1 million judgment for copyright infringement, as well as a permanent injunction against the two defendants involved in the misconduct.<\/p>\n

On December 13, 2021, U.S. District Judge Terry F. Moorer of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, entered a judgment against Donald Childers (\u201cChilders\u201d) and his company, Alabama-based Nationwide Equipment Training, LLC (\u201cNationwide\u201d), in favor of CCO. (The defendant is not related to Nationwide Crane Training, based in Nevada.) The court found the defendants liable for \u201cwillful\u201d copyright infringement of certain CCO written examinations, resulting in statutory damages against the defendants, plus attorney\u2019s fees. In addition, Judge Moorer issued a permanent injunction which, among other things, prohibits defendants from training any candidates for CCO exams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased with the Court\u2019s decision,\u201d said Thom Sicklesteel, Chief Executive Officer for CCO. \u201cThis decision strengthens our certificants\u2019 confidence in the validity of our examinations and in their CCO certifications. The result also reinforces the value of our commitment to provide fair, valid, and reliable assessments to increase the safety of load handling equipment operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pattern of Willful Misconduct<\/h4>\n

The Court found that Childers and Nationwide engaged in a pattern of misconduct over a period of many years. Childers was found to have misappropriated the content of CCO\u2019s secure exams through his direct acts, enlisted others to assist him, and persisted with such conduct, despite the fact that the Court twice held him in contempt. Based on these actions, the Court determined that Childers\u2019 \u201cconduct has been willful,\u201d meaning that he acted with actual knowledge that his conduct infringed on CCO\u2019s copyrights.<\/p>\n

Because the copyright infringement was determined to be willful, the court exercised its discretion to increase the award of statutory damages, for a total of $975,000 in damages, plus attorneys\u2019 fees.<\/p>\n

In addition to awarding monetary damages, the court issued a permanent injunction against Childers and Nationwide, citing a pattern of willful misconduct and disrespect for the orders of the court. Among other things, the permanent injunction precludes the defendants or anyone acting on their behalf from \u201ctraining, teaching, preparing, or otherwise assisting any candidate seeking certification through any CCO certification program.\u201d The injunction also precludes defendants from \u201ccoming within 1,000 feet of any CCO written or practical exam administration at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n

CCO\u2019s lawsuit against Childers and Nationwide was filed on September 30, 2020. The defendants responded to the original complaint, which cited numerous violations of federal copyright law. However, defendants failed to respond to an amended complaint with additional claims, and otherwise failed to respond to court orders in the case, eventually resulting in the entry of default judgments against them.<\/p>\n

CCO Protects Its Intellectual Property
\n<\/h4>\n

\u201cThe enforcement of intellectual property rights is an essential tool for ensuring the continued reliability of CCO\u2019s examinations,\u201d said John Zarian, General Counsel for CCO. \u201cCCO works hard to ensure that its examinations properly assess and measure an operator\u2019s knowledge. The magnitude of this judgment underscores the seriousness of copyright infringement and sends a clear message that courts will enforce the law. CCO will continue to vigorously protect its intellectual property from any infringement.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about copyright infringement and how to avoid it, see the NCCCO News article in the December 2021issue of American Cranes & Transport<\/em> entitled \u201cProtecting CCO Exams<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January 4, 2022 \u2014A federal judge in Alabama has awarded CCO a nearly $1 million judgment for copyright infringement, as well as a permanent injunction against the two defendants involved in the misconduct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cconews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCourt Rules on CCO Exam Infringement | CCO News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CCO news: Court Awards Judgment and Issues Injunction for Infringement of CCO Examinations. 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