Hi Folks,
I Have recently had a draftsman design 2 houses for me as a detached duplex. The plans were drawn up accurately on a drawing board in ink (as the draftsman was old school) and submitted to council and approved without changes. I then took the council approved plans to a project home builder to get quotes on the houses. They said that they needed to draw them on CAD to enable them to give a fixed costing on the project. I have just received their plans back redrawn in their computer program and noticed that they have copyrighted them!! Are they able to do this? I am also getting another builder to quote so does this mean that he or any other builder can't use the plans anymore? Have they now got me in a position where I have to go with them?
Believe it or not the company's name is Integrity!!
Appreciate any feedback,
Ian
They can copyright their CAD file, but they don't own the design. So you don't own their digital CAD file, or any print-outs that they produce from that file, but the original hand-drawn designs still belong to you (or the draftsman, depending on your arrangement with him). Copyright is not a blanket thing that covers every aspect of the document; it's much more complex than that. This fact sheet may help you:
Thanks Trakka,
That puts my mind at ease. Thanks for the link. It is very informative.
Kind regards, Ian
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