{"id":902161,"date":"2024-01-23T16:26:28","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T23:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=902161"},"modified":"2024-01-23T16:26:31","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T23:26:31","slug":"copyright-protection-for-architectural-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/copyright-protection-for-architectural-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Courthouse Reporter Series: Two Recent Cases Address Copyright Protection for Architectural Works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stu Richeson | The Dispute Resolver<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent decisions by the Seventh Circuit and the Eight Circuit have addressed the scope of protection afforded to architectural works under copyright law<\/a>.\u00a0The Seventh Circuit case of\u00a0Design Basics, LLC v. Signature Constr., Inc.<\/em>, 994 F.3d 879 (7th Cir. 2021), took a somewhat narrow view of the copyright protection afforded to the design of an \u201caffordable, multipurpose, suburban, single-family home.\u201d\u00a0In\u00a0Designworks Homes, Inc. v. Columbia House of Brokers Realty, Inc<\/em>., 9 F.4th 803 (8th Cir. 2021),\u00a0cert. denied<\/em>, 142 S. Ct. 2888, 213 L. Ed. 2d 1103 (2022) the Eight Circuit held that the publication of floor plans of a house in a real estate listing was not protected from claims of copyright infringement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design Basics, LLC v. Signature Constr., Inc.<\/em>, <\/em>involved a plaintiff that the court described as holding registered copyrights in thousands of floor plans for suburban, single-family homes that are basic schematic designs, largely conceptual in nature, and depict layouts for one- and two-story single-family homes that include the typical rooms: a kitchen, a dining area, a great room, a few bedrooms, bathrooms, a laundry area, a garage, stairs, assorted closets, etc. The court described the plaintiff as a \u201ccopyright troll\u201d and noted that litigation proceeds had become the principal revenue stream for the plaintiff. The plaintiff sued a contractor and related businesses contending hat the defendants had infringed plaintiff\u2019s copyrighted floor plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court in its analysis stated that Congress amended the Copyright Act in 1990 to provide for copyright protection for architectural works. Architectural works are defined under the Act as \u201cthe design of a building as embodied in any tangible medium of expression, including a building, architectural plans, or drawings. The work includes the overall form as well as the arrangement and composition of spaces and elements in the design but does not include individual standard features.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Design Basics, <\/em>court noted that to establish copyright infringement, two elements must be proven: (1) ownership of a valid copyright; and (2) copying of the constituent elements of the work that are original. The first element in that case was not disputed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addressing the copying of the constituent elements of the work that are original, the court looked to two questions: (1) whether the defendant copied the plaintiff\u2019s protected work; and (2) whether the copying went so far as to constitute improper appropriation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To answer the first question, the court held that plaintiff must show that the defendant copied the work. This is generally established through circumstantial evidence that the defendant had access to the plaintiff\u2019s work and that there is enough similarity between the plaintiff\u2019s work and the defendant\u2019s work to support a reasonable inference of copying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second question (whether the copying went so far as to constitute improper appropriation) required substantial similarities between the defendant\u2019s work and the protected elements in the plaintiff\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court noted that \u201cstandard features\u201d or sc\u00e8nes \u00e0 faire<\/em> are elements that are commonplace, standard, or so unavoidable that they do not distinguish one work from another, and that such elements are not entitled to copyright protection. The court held that \u201cstandard features\u201d or sc\u00e8nes \u00e0 faire<\/em> in house plans include the arrangement of the rooms: the kitchen is always close to the dining room; the bedrooms will usually be clumped together and near a bathroom; the door from the garage into the house usually leads to the kitchen rather than the great room or living room.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court also held that the \u201cmerger doctrine\u201d prevents the use of copyright to protect ideas or procedures. If an idea can only be expressed in a few ways, then it would be possible to copyright every one of its expressions. In such a case, under the \u201cmerger doctrine,\u201d the expression of that idea cannot receive copyright protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court went on to hold that the plaintiff, by copyrighting 2800 floor plans for affordable, multipurpose, suburban, single-family homes was attempting to occupy the entire field. As a result, the court found that the copyright protection for its plans was \u201cthin,\u201d and that any proof of unlawful appropriation would require more than substantial similarity, but would require \u201cvirtually identical\u201d plans.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Designworks Homes, Inc. v. Columbia House of Brokers Realty, Inc<\/em>., 9 F.4th 803 (8th Cir. 2021), cert. denied<\/em>, 142 S. Ct. 2888, 213 L. Ed. 2d 1103 (2022), a homebuilder that was the owner of a copyright in a home design filed suit for copyright infringement against two real estate companies. The real estate companies had been engaged by the owners of two of the houses constructed by the plaintiff to assist the owners in selling their homes. During the process of listing the homes for sale, the real estate companies, either directly or through a contractor, produced sketches of the homes\u2019 floorplans and incorporated images of those floorplans in the listings for potential buyers to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At issue was an exception to the copyright protection afforded architectural works which provides that the copyright protection for an architectural work that has been constructed does not prevent another party from making, distributing, or displaying pictures, paintings, photographs, or other pictorial representations of the work if the building in which the work is embodied is located in or ordinarily visible from a public place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eighth Circuit held that the floor plans did not constitute a permissible pictorial representation of the architectural works, because floorplans should not be considered \u201cpictures.\u201d The court noted that the copyright statutes as a whole reveals that Congress knew how to describe floorplans with more specificity than by simply referring to them as \u201cpictures,\u201d and that the floor plans should be characterized as \u201ctechnical drawings\u201d or \u201carchitectural plans,\u201d rather than as \u201cpictures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes – please call Advise & Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stu Richeson | The Dispute Resolver Recent decisions by the Seventh Circuit and the Eight Circuit have addressed the scope of protection afforded to architectural works under copyright law.\u00a0The Seventh Circuit case of\u00a0Design Basics, LLC v. Signature Constr., Inc., 994 F.3d 879 (7th Cir. 2021), took a somewhat narrow view of the copyright protection afforded… Continue reading Courthouse Reporter Series: Two Recent Cases Address Copyright Protection for Architectural Works<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,9009],"tags":[9895,11451,216],"class_list":["post-902161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","category-design-professionals","tag-advise-consult","tag-architectural-plans-and-drawings","tag-copyright-protection","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nCourthouse Reporter Series: Two Recent Cases Address Copyright Protection for Architectural Works - 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