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Copyright Case Study

Copyright law has more relevance to contractors than you might think.

By Noel D. Humphreys | Updated on June 01, 2009

A homebuilder and an architect worked together to design and build custom homes. A potential homebuyer came to the homebuilder carrying plans from another architect. The other architect’s copyright notice appeared on the customer’s plans.

The homebuilder said to the architect, “Should we get a license to build the home based on the other architect’s plans?” The architect replied, “No, the home you will build based on my plans will be different enough that no license is called for.” The architect made construction drawings in accordance with the second architect’s plans.

After the builder constructed a few houses based on the plan, the second architect brought two different lawsuits. The claim was that the homes infringed federal copyright rights held by the second architect. The second architect did not sue the first architect.

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