COPYRIGHT CRASH COURSE The essence of copyright is simple: You own the rights to copy your own creations, unless you are a full-time employee — in which case your employer owns the rights — or you have given written consent to transfer your rights. And, like songwriters and authors, you are entitled to benefit if someone else reproduces your work.
Tom Van Hoozer, a partner with Hovey Williams in Kansas City, Mo., which specializes in intellectual property law, lists some key facts in seeking damages for copyright violations:
- Register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office (www.copyright.gov) before taking legal action. You must register both your technical drawings and the architectural work itself. (Even if you don’t register, you still own the copyright to your work.)
- The law protects only “original” work. Standard features, such as windows and doors, are excluded. It also allows the work’s owners to change it or tear it down without infringing on the copyright.
- The law allows people to photograph the building.
- You have the right to seek statutory damages, such as the time spent developing the design and the infringer’s profits that resulted from your design. If you’ve met the U.S. Copyright Office’s registration requirements, you may also be entitled to recover attorney’s fees.
“The bottom line is, registration is relatively inexpensive, simple to do, essential to bringing a lawsuit, and the benefits are great,” Van Hoozer says. In the long run, the intellectual capital of your company has more value than your equipment and materials.
Loring Leifer is a freelance writer in Shawnee Mission, Kan.
Eight Ways to Protect Your Work
- Adopt an intellectual property policy. Define what information you’ll share and what you won’t. Make sure your staff understands.
- Register your plans with the U.S. Copyright Office. It helps to have a lawyer do this, especially the first time you file. Fees typically range from $200 to $500.
- Broadcast your ownership. “Most homeowners think they own the plans,” says Scott Richert, an attorney in Nevada City, Calif., who specializes in construction law. “They only own the right to use the plans under certain conditions.” So, make that clear. Define what rights your clients will have with the drawings.
- Spell out ownership in contracts and include a copyright statement on all documents. Dick Ferrell Contracting in Rock Hill, S.C., uses a simple one-page design agreement that specifically states that the design is property of the company and cannot be used without written permission. All plans shared with clients are stamped “Not for construction purposes.”
- Limit the release of plans. Some remodelers don’t give out plans or they omit dimensions and scale on plans shown to clients. Others don’t give plans to clients until they’ve signed a contract or paid a fee.
- Make it in clients’ best interests not to copy. Remind them that if someone else builds from your plans, this clouds liability and makes it difficult to resolve problems with the design.
- If the stakes are high enough, be prepared to sue. You stand to recover not just the time spent on design, but the appreciated value, rents, and profits of buildings from a copied design.
- Beware of bidding off someone else’s plans. If you build from an infringed set of plans, you’re liable whether or not you knew the plans were stolen. For that reason, architect Cinda K. Lester, with 12/12 Architects & Planners in Downers Grove, Ill., asks not to see sketches or drawings if she meets with a client who has fired another architect or builder.