If I have prepared drawings/specification and sucessfully obtained planning permission for home extension work, and my client (the current home owner) then sells the house along with the permission (and my drawings) to a new owner, would there be any obligations between the new owner and myself in terms of use of those drawings and specification?
Also, if the new owner chooses to go ahead with the work and requires building regulation approval and chooses someone else to prepare suitable technical drawings, can they copy my drawings as a basis for their own drawings?
I see that you've also sent this to uk.legal - so you might get an expert opinion from there.
My own non-expert opinion is that it probably depends on whether there are any copyright notices - together with restrictions on use - on the drawings themselves.
Unless it is explicitly documented that these are for the sole use of your customer, and not to be sold on (which would be unreasonable anyway **) I can't see why the new owner shouldn't use them to support a planning application.
Whether or not they are then copied as a basis of building regs/technical design drawings is pretty academic. If planning permission has been granted, based on your drawings, the subsequent drawings are bound to look pretty similar to yours in respect to the visual aspects, regardless of whether yours are actually copied.
Even if the existing owner were to go ahead with the building work, I doubt whether you could force him to employ you to do the remaining drawings unless you have an explicit agreement to that effect.
It depends on the contract that you had. In general, unless you specifically sold the copyright, you still have it and no one may copy it or use it as the basis for their drawings without a licence so to do. Unless the licence that you gave the owner explicitly allowed for the transfer to the new owner, the new owner has no rights to the drawings - other than those for any drawing put into the public domain by the planning process.
In short, it will be as defined in your contract with the original owner.
Which will, at a guess for the most part be verbal, and it is likely that the purchasor of the drawings thought that he would be buying the copyright of the drawings (or more likely was unaware that this might be an issue). This is especially true, if he, as it seems, asked for the drawings in anticipation of selling the house with the necessary PP.
This seems to be a great big legal can of worms, which the OP cannot usefully win. If I were the purchasor of said house and the drawer of these drawings clamed that he owned the copyright to the drawings and threaten legal action, do you think that I would pay you for the copyright. Nope, on principle I would not, I'd get someone else to do some new ones for me, we are talking about
In general a licence to use applies only to the licensee and is not transferable unless this is explicitly agreed in the contract. If the client had bought No. 32, he could use the plans to extend that, instead of No 36 - his new friend at No 36 could not make use of them. But it does depend on the contract, which could have granted a transferable licence.
People who draw plans for house-holders to use for planning are not IME in the habit of giving anything more than a one line description with the price (because those that do draw up full contract are much too expensive for the average house holder).
IANAL - but without an explicit right to transfer then the right to use remains with the individual and is not tranferable without the permission of the copyright holder. It doesn't need to be a "full" contract, whatever one of those is, a verbal agreement is sufficient.
No - the copyright definitely stays with the person drawing the plans unless agreed otherwise. But IMO the client has bought the right to use the plans to do the work at the property in question and can assign this if he chooses. So the owner of semi no. 36 can sell the house with PP which the buyer may act upon. What he cannot do (but would be able to if he had bought the copyright) is to make a copy of the plans for his friend at No.32.
If it's not expressly stated then it will be an implied term. So if it came to court and the contract was silent on the right or otherwise to assign, then IMO a court would decide that the owner could assign to another owner of the same property.
But as a verbal contract it is quite likely that the parties would have left the meeting: the purchasor with the impression that he could do what he liked with the drawings once they are delivered, the drawer thinking that he kept the copyright. How is someone going to mediate this.
The new owner has no rights to use your drawings. You should write to them and disclaim all responsibility for the content of the drawings and invite them to have you review the drawings for a fee and enter into contract with the new owner.
Not legally.
You own the copyright in your drawings unless you have expilicity transferred or negotiated away such rights. The contract is between you and the original client and the client has no right to assign any rights to the drawings to a third party without your permission.
Do you not put copyright statements on your drawings? You don't need to, but it clarifies the contract from the word go.
You should consider...
"This drawing and the information contained herein is copyright and may not be stored, copied or reproduced in any form without prior written permission. The rights to use this drawing for the purpose intended is extended only to the client at the address to which the drawing relates. Such rights are not transferrable without prior written permission. (c) XYZ Architects 2004."
or the short version...
"(c) XZY Architects 2004. All rights reserved."
You might also consider a liability waiver along the lines of: -
"This drawing has been prepared in accordance with relevant Building Regulations, British Standards, [... add other stuff as appropriate ...] other applicable standards and good industry practice extant at the time of preparation. The drawing may have been prepared from information provided by youselves and or third parties (with or without the benefit of a site survey) and the accuracy of such information is beyond our control. Furthermore, in the absence of investigatory works, there may be factors of which we were not aware when the drawings were prepared. We do not therefore accept liability for loss or consequential damage due to matters arising which come to light during construction knowledge of which matters we were not or could not have been aware."
along with: -
"Do not scale off this drawing. All dimensions to be verified on site. Please advise in writing any inaccuracies found".
You may also wish to include a confidentiality clause...
"This drawing and the information contained herein is confidential and may not be divulged to a third party in any form without prior written permission."
Also, there is the issue of liability. If the new owner uses your drawings without your permission and the builder realises halfway through construction that ($DEITY forbid) you made a large and expesive error in the drawing (which error you should not have made because you had all the information you needed to get it right first time), are you liable for the loss? I don't think you are because your duty of care was to your original client.
I would certainly agree that it is the property that has the permission and that a new owner could freely use the drawings for reference for the purpose of carrying out the work.
I suspect that this would be via some kind of implied licence.
But what if say, there was some sort of problem with the design or specification ? Could the new owner then have some redress with me if the work does not go to plan?
Would there be some likewise implied contract between me and the new owner, in which I owe a general duty for the design to all future owners who implement the work? Or does my duty end with my original client?
In terms of the actual drawings and also the design, then I do have copyright - despite whether specifically noted or not. My drawings should not be copied or otherwise included in subsequent drawings or adapted by any other person.
However, with domestic work there is very little scope for alternative designs, and so if the desgin is my copyright, and the new owner chooses to get someone else to produce drawings to the same work 'as approved', then would that infringe on the copyrighted design and drawings?
The way I see it, is that a completely new design (significantly different to my own) would have to be submitted for planning approval, if the new owner chooses not to use me for any subsequent drawing work. Anything remotely similar to my design would potentially contravene my copyright.
BTW, this is not a real life situation, but the scenario caught my interest when a colleague was asked about producing drawings so that a householder could sell the property with PP for a potential higher price
I don't agree. The contract to do the work was between you and the person who commissioned your work. If you choose to allow a third party (the new owner) to use your drawings then that's up to you. If you do you should charge a fee.
No, not unless you have agreed in writing to let them use the original drawings.
No, not unless you have agreed in writing to let them use the original drawings.
Exactly right,.
You need to draw the distinction between copyright in the design and copyright in the drawings. For what you might call a "standard" extension to an existing house, you could not usefully copyright the design, only the drawings. Another architect could produce a very close approximation to your work (and even crib off your drawings) but if he prepared his own drawings then that's fine. The only way to resolve this would be to go to court, where the judge would have to make a decision on whether your design was copyright. The defendant would argue that you have not created a new artistic design, but that you have followed standard industry practices to produce an extension to an existing building in keeping with the style and form of the existing building and that any competent architect in the country could have come up with substantially the same design.
On the other hand, if you had designed a complete residence in a particular architectural style for a greenfield site then you would most definitely have copyright in the design and the drawings.
I don't agree. In the case of a simple extension to an existing building, the differences would only have to be superficial. See above.
There goes the reply of a lawyer (am I right?). Lawyers make big bucks out of disputes like this. The way to resolve a dispute of this nature would, in the first instance at least, be to sit down and discuss it amicably.
I have it in my head "Only a fool goes to law". Believing it to be a quotation from one of 'the greats' (Oscar Wilde, perhaps?) I Googled for it, but found nothing. Perhaps it's something my Dad told me? Or is it something simply born out of my observations?
In any case it's irrelevant here, as the OP has said: "BTW, this is not a real life situation, but the scenario caught my interest when a colleague was asked about producing drawings so that a householder could sell the property with PP for a potential higher price."
I'm sure the OP will have learned enough from this thread to know how to resolve the problem before it arises.
I quite agree. I made the point only for illustration. Perhaps I should not have said "the only way", but "the definitive way". After all, you can negotiate what you like around the table... ...without paying scum sucking bottom-feeders.
As some wit said "A negotiation is finished when one side becomes negligent".
I'm not a lawyer, by the way, but I have spent a fair amount of time doing legal work (contracts, commercial leases, etc).
Well, I do put some of that on the drawings but not all of it because I need some space for the floorplans. lol
Seriously, I don't know if all of it is relevent as the approved drawings will be available at the local planning department, and copies may be available from there. However I think I will review my disclaimers.
I certainly am aware of less capable persons aquiring copies of designs from the local council, and then using these as a basis for their own work. The councils do not record nor notify the copyright owner when copies are taken either.
Thats interesting. I have always understood that in this scenario, I have been engaged to produce drawings 'for planning approval' to the property, and on this basis the drawings will be recorded at the local council for the purpose of defining what has been approved, and as such would be available for use in all matters relating to that approval.
Therefore any future owner wishing to exercise his right to implement [his] approved works (ie the works approved to the property) would be legally able to aquire copies and use them as a basis for implementing the work.
It is when the drawings lack sufficient detail, that problems with adapting the drawings can arise.
If I was engaged to just do some internal alteration work purely for the client to use as a basis for instructing builders, then I would view that differently - as being personal to the client and not transferable to a future owner.
When I drew plans for a living the standard preprinted notes (apart from copyright) on my drawing blanks (pre-CAD days) were
All dimensions must be checked on site and not scaled from this drawing.
The Contractor is to include for all items required to complete the work to a reasonable standard whether expressly stated or otherwise. Decoration by agreement with client.
This drawing has been prepared for the purposes of obtaining Statutory Approvals only on the basis that the work will be carried out by a competent and experienced contractor. Any discrepancies or queries should be referred to the Designers before proceeding further.
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