Why copyright is important to understand, especially for new homeowners, Realtors, builders and architects

1. the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work,whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 70 years after his or her death.

 

When I took a drafting class in high school I went to the local bookstore and bought a small paperback filled with a smattering of house plans.  I studied the layouts and wondered at how ingenious the architects were to come up with SO MANY completely individualized and creative floor plans and elevations. 

These books and magazines are great sources to study the two-dimensional floor plans that will be used to create a potential custom home.  A custom buyer or builder, or architect observes in these books of designs by others to see the creative manner in which rooms are organized, the sizes of each, the circulation space, the proximity to other rooms and activities, etc. 

Studying the brochures of any home purchase in mind is important.  While you may not sense the size of rooms and how they 'feel' in real life, you can assess the layout, actual sizes and features of each space to spot a possible weak spot, or how perhaps an addition could be made, etc.

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Copyrighted material is essentially intellectual property.  It belongs to the person who is the 'originator' of that "literary, artistic, or musical material."  Trademarks are another form of copyright but defined and regulated slightly differently.  Branding slogans are typically trademarked, or registered with the government.  Legal recourse is available to anyone who cops an original song lyric, book, musical score, artistic production, etc.

A copyright for any original work can be legally obtained but in many cases, the originator fails to do that - registers the copyright - and if he/she cries foul against someone who has copied their work the recourse is diminished in terms of fines and legal fees.

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Here in Florida, it was well known for years that a large merchant builder was making almost as much suing other builders who copied and built their plans as sales for construction!

All large corporate construction companies copyright their house plans.  They have an in-house design staff and they are sole owners of the copyright.  Sometimes they will obtain designs "out of house" and may negotiate with a professional design office to retain copyright of those plans.

Architects retain copyright ownership of all their work unless negotiated contractually otherwise.  This is for any design paid by a builder or private party.  The builder or custom home client cannot reproduce the same design in any way other than to have it built once.  Unless contracted to do so otherwise.

Books with home plans are automatically copyright material and while they can be used to study particular layouts, they are not available for anyone to rescale into a set of construction documents.  if you are interested in modifying a plan featured in one of these magazines just contact the designer listed and they will do the changes for you in a very low-cost manner.

However, the original construction documents may not have sufficient information for you to obtain a building permit or the details do not match the systems used in your area.  For example, if the plans show a crawl space as in northern frost belt locations and you want a slab on grade the drawings must be reworked.  If you want to build a concrete block wall for a Florida location and the plans show wood framing then the drawings must be changed to suit.  
Structural engineering for any house plan - whether purchased from out of your area or designed by a local professional - must be based on the local or state laws governing earthquakes (California) or hurricanes (Florida and other states subject to high winds).  Engineering is not normally included by any architect so a licensed engineer from your area should be contacted.

Fines for builders who copy another plan and build it include recovery of the profit made for building the house in violation of copyright, the cost of the actual design, and all legal fees -- if that plan had the copyright registered.  

Often a homeowner or builder likes certain aspects of a design created by others, either of the plan or front elevation, and can legally incorporate them into a new plan without copyright violation.  However, if some aspect of a Master Bath, Living Room or Front Facade is trademarked then again there will be a violation.

Historic houses and structures typically built outside of the time limitations of copyright are fair game to reproduce, although one could copyright a derivative design, so you have to be careful again.

An attorney specializing in intellectual property should be consulted to advise on copyright issues concerning 'appropriation' of particular aspects of a design by others that you wish to modify into your own home plan.

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Shake 'n Bake Design

Several years ago I visited a builder's office and while waiting in a conference room I noticed a dozen floor plans resized from brochures (of competitors) on the table in the process of being cut apart and taped together to form new plans!  I realized that this builder was simply taking the most marketable aspects of successfully sold houses in the area and creating his own product.

Then...

In a very large country on the other side of the planet... I was asked to design two houses for a subdivision in a 'western style'.  They had a huge display area with a very large model of the property with intricately scaled houses that had been selected to be built on every lot.  The same houses were built on the perimeter of the outer walls in perfectly scaled larger dollhouse sizes.  The roofs and second floors could be disassembled for a potential buyer to see the walls, doorways and windows, furniture, cabinets, plumbing fixtures, and flooring in every room. 

I took one of their brochures to the hotel to study overnight and realized that their design team had looked at countless houses planned and built for U.S. buyers and (like the builder above) had cut and pasted a myriad of copied internet sales home plans, and had randomly put rooms together, several of which made no sense.  The next day I asked what some of the rooms in the models represented and they shrugged as they had no idea!  They weren't labeled even.  Enough was 'correct' though that this developer was winning over a large market of ex-pats and other European and even Asian customers.

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Copyright is a very sensitive matter in the music business.  To see how this is handled by composers and creators of hit songs especially, you may get an idea of the scrutiny made for house and plan copyright issues.

A well-known hit song of the mid-70s (a Manilow style passage by Eric Carmen) was challenged by the heirs of Rachmaninoff, a modern classical pianist who died in 1943.  His work was protected for 70 years extending to 2013.  The estate and Carmen settled on 12% of the royalties for "All By Myself" and the subsequent hit "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" -- also a derivative of R's 'Symphony No. 2".

Recently Led Zeppelin was sued by the estate of the defunct band Spirit for copying the introductory passage of "Stairway to Heaven".  LZ prevailed. 

Groups who play in public or record 'covers' of another artist's work, while allowed, must send royalties of the profits made to the original songwriter.  Broadcasts on the radio, in television ads, in movies, plays or digital recordings of any parts of an artist's musical compositions have made the most popular artists wealthy in retirement years!

Many architects depend upon their 'stock plans' to earn them retirement income.  A popular plan, like a hit song, is the only intellectual property an architect retains and unless licensed it cannot be copied, reproduced or rebuilt without a 'royalty'...