Intellectual property consists of three primary areas: patent, trademark and copyright. Fortunately, however, as long as a builder takes several important steps before he commissions new blueprints and/or uses existing blueprints, he can protect his company. In other words, unless builders think ahead and negotiate for the rights to a design-or ensure that the design they are using is not infringing-they could potentially expose themselves to millions of dollars in liability, whether for the current building or for future buildings. The author of a blueprint owns not only the rights to the blueprint itself, but-more importantly-the right to prevent others from constructing duplicate or similar buildings using that same design. However, the intricacies of copyright law represent huge risks to home builders and contractors. It was still a bad idea to invite a lawyer. So how did you do on our little quiz? Yes, I know. If you create blueprints copying the design of an existing building built after 1990, you are liable for copyright infringement. Federal law protects the design of a house, not just architectural plans. A South Carolina builder used a third party's copyrighted blueprints several years ago to build a customer's dream house-and a federal judge promptly slapped an injunction on the builder, barring him from completing the house which he had already begun to build! If another person owns the copyright to the blueprints, then the builder himself could potentially be liable for copyright infringement if he builds the house. Once again, the builder would be well-advised to think hard before accepting the offer. In response, the rightful owners of the copyright in the blueprints-the architectural firm-sued the builders for copyright infringement and won a $5.2 million jury verdict, representing the entire amount of profits the builders made from the houses. The builders built over 300 additional homes based on seven sets of blueprints provided to them by an architect. In a similar case, two Virginia builders were quite wrong-to the tune of $5.2 million. After taking digital pictures of the houses, you bring them to your in-shop draftsman on Monday morning and ask him to create some new plans for your own new subdivision. You love the house designs and understand why the development has been so successful. 3-On a Sunday, you take the family for a drive through a successful new subdivision. The friend has given your new customer permission to use the blueprints. 2-A customer walks into a builder's office and requests that the builder construct the customer's "dream house" using a set of blueprints the potential customer got from a friend who had built the same house in a neighboring town. Naturally, since the builder came up with the general idea for the design, he figures he owns the rights to construct as many buildings as he wants using that design. In fact, the homeowner loves the house so much that the builder figures he will duplicate the design elsewhere, so he quickly starts work on seven more houses in another part of town. The builder constructs the house according to the design and sells it to a very enthusiastic homeowner. He meets with an architect to describe his general ideas for the design of the house, and the architect puts the design on paper and draws up the blueprints. 1-Consider the following scenario: a builder conceptualizes a design for a house in a new subdivision. Okay, that's quite enough questions time for our quiz. Another question from the back row? No, I do not know if golf scorecard pencils are No. Questions? Yes, I know it was a bad idea to invite a lawyer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |