Browse Forums Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1 Aug 25, 2014 9:16 pm For all you more legally minded out there I have a dilemma. My builder wants me to sign a letter that indemnifies them against copyright for plans that I have them to build for me. My issue is this... The standard HIA contract section 15 has a copyright clause in it indemnifying the builder, yet they are adamant to have me sign their own letter. What are your thoughts? Should I dig my heels in and say no I want the HIA contract or option B is scrub it out of the HIA contract and I'll sign theirs? The other thing is I asked them to put me as copyright on the drawings and they said no it remains their copyright and I said but they are my plans so if you put your copyright on them then your infringing me. Thoughts? Re: Copyright question 3Aug 26, 2014 6:34 am If you presented the builder with a full set of working drawings of your own design then yes that is your property. If you presented the builder with a design and they did the working drawings then the drawings are there property. What they want you to sign is if Joe Blogs Builder knocks on the door and says "hey that's my plan you built that house too, im going to sue you" your builder says no, this is the design we got from CrazyK that we did our plans off and said didn't tell us it was your design. edit, if it is your design and its not copied from another builder then you have nothing to worry about. Re: Copyright question 7Aug 27, 2014 11:31 am Quote: If you presented the builder with a design and they did the working drawings then the drawings are there property. If your working drawings meaning floorplan and elevations are to scale, with all dimensions, North symbol, window and door schedule, sections through etc etc then yes you can claim copyright. If however as mgilla points out, if all your drawings are just basically an outline and they have done all the work to dimension them etc ready to be submitted to council with all the other necessary documentation like site plan, SEE, shadow diagrams etc then they are entitled to claim copyright. Post up the plan you gave them so we can comment further. Stewie Re: Copyright question 8Aug 27, 2014 5:50 pm Thanks Stewie. The plan was basically a scaled drawing. It didn't include any other info. The copyright act of 1968 doesn't actually state all that. You don't need all that info to claim copyright. In any case they have agreed they will not put their copyright on my plans. I'll put it to you all another way. If you copy the shape and size of a room from someone else's plan and use it, would you be infringing on their copyright? I don't necessarily have to create elevations or views, just a plan. I think you would be. Re: Copyright question 9Aug 27, 2014 9:34 pm A single room I don't think you'd have a problem even an odd shaped one and it was a direct copy but a series of rooms the same shape and layout ( commonly called a house ) and you'd be in trouble. There are a couple of other threads on copyright on these forums too . I'm not sure if you've read them. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=71740&hilit=+copyright viewtopic.php?f=1&t=71444&p=1182383#p1182383 The pdf of the "House Plan Copyright GO17 " I link to in the first is worth reading. Stewie Re: Copyright question 10Aug 27, 2014 9:59 pm it has been a while since I researched copyright laws but they are there for your protection as well as the builders. Basically you do not have to put the copyright symbol as it automatically attaches to the original author. The reason I looked into this was because I gave a very detail digital plan of the layout of my house to the builder which they made some tweaks to but largely it is the same house. I think it could easily be argued that it is jointly owned. The following is extracted from the australian copyright council. Drawings, sketches, plans, and other copyright material are protected automatically as soon as they are given “material form” (for example, by being drawn on paper, saved as a digital file, photographed or filmed). There is no registration procedure. An owner of copyright is entitled to put the copyright notice on the work. This is the symbol ©, followed by the name of the copyright owner and the year of creation or first publication (for example, © Archie Tecture, 2012). There is no special procedure for doing this, and the work is protected by copyright even if there is no notice. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) I’m paying a builder to draw a plan based on my ideas and sketches. Who owns copyright? Even if you have discussed your ideas and requirements and asked the builder, architect or draftsperson to draw up plans incorporating those ideas, the copyright owner will generally be the person who drew the plans. At most, someone giving instructions to a builder, architect or draftsperson as to how plans should look might be a co-owner of copyright. However, ideas themselves are not protected by copyright: it is the person who expresses those ideas in a particular material form who owns copyright in that particular work. If you have drawn up a sketch showing what you want and asked the builder to draw up scale plans, it is likely that you own copyright in your sketch and the builder will own copyright in his or her plan. If the plan incorporates the essential features of your sketch, it is likely that you have “underlying rights” in the builder’s plan, since copying the builder’s plan will indirectly reproduce your plan. In these cases, someone else who uses the plan (such as another client of the builder) might need permission from both you and the builder. Of course, if your sketch incorporates essential or distinctive elements of someone else’s sketch, plan or house, you are likely to need permission from that copyright owner both to include those elements in your sketch and to “authorise” the builder to reproduce it. You can really use anything you want the main consideration would be how it looks once painted/finished - or the look you want. Cabinetmakers use MDF because its cheap… 2 9960 I would say both styles you have pictured are steel. The lower chord of the first pic would be a massive lump if made using timber considering the size of the rafters. If… 1 6151 1 13125 |