Posted by M. Arthur Auslander on January 26, 1999 at 04:48:36:
In Reply to: Re: Re: landscape plan copyright posted by john on January 25, 1999 at 18:06:14:
: : Is it legal to copy a section of a landscape plan? There is a section of a plan I made, that I saw I copy of in a newspaper advertisement for another company. It was only a small portion of the whole plan and it was modified.
: : Unless the copyright is registered no action can be brought. If the registration is applied for within three months of the publication of the work there are full rights against the infringer.
: : Modification does not avoid infringement if the basic mode of expression has been copied. There is no protection for the intrinsic idea.
: : M. Arthur Auslander
: : Auslander & Thomas-Intellectual Property Law
: : 505 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
: : 212-594-6900, fax 212-244-0028, aus@auslander.com
: : ELAINE's Workshop: E arly L egal A dvice I s N ot E xpensive
: Do Architectural plans (blue-prints)have different copyrights or do these also have to be registered... Does it matter if a landscape plan is drawn by an Architect or not ? Thanks
There are two types of copyrights, published and unpublished. Blueprints can be either. All copyrights have to be registered to be enforced in the courts. The author of the work is the creator or in some cases the owner where rights in certain employees go directly to the employer. It can get technical. There is no discrimination requiring a title or degree in order to have a copyright. Access is the essence of proof of infringement. The infringer must have had some access to be liable for infringement. Some rights may be lost if the copying takes place before the registration of the copyright. Some rights may be lost if a published work does not have a copyright notice.
M. Arthur Auslander
Auslander & Thomas-Intellectual Property Law Since 1909
505 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
212-594-6900, fax 212-244-0028, aus@auslander.com
ELAINE's Workshop: E arly L egal A dvice I s N ot E xpensive