A Room’s a Room: Similarities Between Architectural Drawings Not Infringement
Tiseo Architects, Inc. v. B &B Pools Serv. and Supply Co., No. 06-1819, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17894 (6th Cir., July 20, 2007)
This case illustrates the long-standing, but sometimes forgotten, copyright principle: that one must first analyze whether the similarities between defendant’s and plaintiff’s works pertain to original elements of plaintiff’s work. If they do not, then there is no infringement.
First, the facts: B&B Pools hired Tiseo Architects to prepare design drawings for its store remodel; then later hired a new architect, Olson, to prepare the construction plans. Tiseo sued for copyright infringement.
The Sixth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s finding of no infringement. Even when works are very similar and access to plaintiff’s work is obvious, defendant’s work must be substantially similar to protectable elements of plaintiff’s work. Filtering out the unoriginal, unprotectable elements of Plaintiff’s plans (such as elements dictated by the client or zoning regulations), the court reached the logical conclusion: there are not a lot of ways for an architect to draw plans for an existing office.
Practice Tip: Practitioners should take care to fully analyze the elements of their infringement cases. The result in this case might have been different if Plaintiff had briefed the similarities between the protectable elements of the drawings, which, according to the Sixth Circuit Court, it did not do.