Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Nov 30, 2014 6:50 pm Hi all, Would appreciate your views and opinions on this matter. We have majorly customised a layout and elevation based on one of the standard home designs offered by the builder. Currently we are waiting for the prestart variations to come back to us before signing the final contract. Yesterday we found out that our design was being used by the builder as a "standard" home design. We happened to know about this because we visited the builder's new display home and chatted with the sales consultant there. He mentioned that he had a client who liked the design similar to ours (in it's customised) form and was working with them on it. This included a carbon copy of the floor plan and the elevation! I checked with another friend who is building with a different builder and he was told that his "customised" design would not be offered to any other client until after his house had completed building. Now I understand that the copyright of the design ****** with the builder, but does anyone know if a builder can offer our design as a standard home design that soon when we have not even started to build yet? Has anyone actually placed copyright on their design before? Thank you Our Build Thread: The "Extended" Marina by Visionone Homes Our Inspirations: Frank Lloyd Wright | Houzz Re: Does one own a "customised" design? 2Nov 30, 2014 6:58 pm You have modified the builders design therefore it would be their intellectual property, you have just added your touch to it. Did the builders drafty make the changes you asked? If someone from their department has tinkered with the design then the copywrite is held with that drafty on behalf if the company. Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience. George Carlin Re: Does one own a "customised" design? 3Dec 14, 2014 2:55 am Hootie, unfortunately they can do what they want with your plan. I think I may have mentioned to you in another thread about a one-off that we designed with a skillion roof that we in the end chose not to build - well someone else is building it (albeit with some changes). I only found out because I drove past it and recognised it. To be honest I was pretty stoked that someone else liked my concept enough to fork out some major cash for it Re: Does one own a "customised" design? 4Dec 14, 2014 4:24 am For the copyright to attach to you instead of the builder you would not be able to start with their design. You would have to present a fairly good drawing (better than conceptual) to the builder and then the design would have to be largely unaltered. This is quite hard unless you know where all the ducting and piping etc need to go. I think at best it would be jointly owned. I do not think you can do anything about it as it is their design. I had an old shower unit that broke on me and when I took it off, there were only 2 water pipes, instead of the normal 2 water pipes and a shower head pipe. S o I… 0 34214 Yep, very good point. I’ll do more research and see what figures I get. Thank you! 8 2478 Very common on rendered homes Smaller suppliers get the lower quality raw materials 6 9106 |