Plans drawn and layout performed by you without prior knowledge that they were to be "Shared" with your competitors, is a copyright infringement. Your drawings are intellectual property. You own that particular layout unless you specifically sold the right to reproduce and distribute it. Laws differ by state, but the uniform commercial code will support your ownership. Some designers have gone so far as to print copyright restrictions directly on their drawings. If you were paid as a "Design Only" service you had to have the expectation that the plans could or would be reproduced and distributed for bids. If on the other hand you produced the plans for a project with the expectation that you would then perform the installation as per the plans, ownership and liability are both different, and you retain ownership, and distribution rights.
It sounds like you've developed a set of 'Conceptual plans for a project, and then they put the project on hold. They may have even paid the design portion of your bid or some fees in lieu of a contract to perform the work. Unless you specifically sold your rights, it had to be in writing, you still own that layout. The G.C. or Owner doesn't matter, you retain ownership. (Again unless you were contracted to provide layout/design services, similar to the engineer or arch. Even an Arch. Will continue to own his or her design and recover fee's for plans that are used for more than one project, unless their contract with the owner specifically stated that they intended to reuse the same building design for multiple projects. Then only if the Arch. Conveyed this to the other consultants, would their layouts/design be allowed to be used, without additional compensation. Let's say a contractor or Arch. Cam to you and said "I want you to layout a fire sprinkler system for these four models of tract housing. Each of these homes will be built at least 6 times, but the total project will consist of 47 homes from your layout. Additionally you will not be handed these homes to install, but must bid against other contractors that will also use your layout." You'd charge him a lot more that the Arch. Or G.C. that said we're doing 47 homes, 4 different models, at least six of each model, and you're going to install all of them. Another question, who carries the E&O for these layouts? What's your liability? Who insures that they are in fact installed per your layout? Are you receiving construction period services fees? Do you have right of review? Any and all of these things must be spelled out in a "Design only" contract. If they aren't there, you the Arch. And owner are all Naked in the Legal woods. Thom McMahon, SET Firetech, Inc. 2560 Copper Ridge Dr P.O. Box 882136 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 Tel: 970-879-7952 Fax: 970-879-7926 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chris Cahill Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 3:11 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Plan rights Anyone know who actually owns the copy and intellectual rights to the plans we develop? Can a GC for future work give out your plans to all bidding contractors for such future work? How about the owner? Talking about work you completed long ago and now they are doing TI work. The design of a sprinkler system is a creative endeavor. None of us would do the same building the same way. I know in some cases one can walk the building and see all the same stuff. Probably nothing that protects those issues. It's a legal technical question if not exactly a sprinkler technical issue. At least it's technical. Chris Cahill, P.E. Fire Protection Engineer Sentry Fire Protection, Inc. 763-658-4483 763-658-4921 fax Email: [email protected] Mail: P.O. Box 69 Waverly, MN 55390 Location: 4439 Hwy 12 SW Waverly, MN 55390 _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
