Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
client full fees for a design which the architect
has already prepared for a different client and
for which fees have been paid?
The copyright position where an architect has prepared drawings for a site and the client
sells the site is dealt with in question 86. This is a somewhat different question. It envisages
an architect completing drawings for a client on a particular site and being asked to sell the
drawing to a different client with a different site. There is no doubt that the architect retains
copyright and no doubt that the new client has no right to a licence to use the drawings.
If the architect does sell on the drawings and the new client constructs a building from
them,itislikelythattheoriginalclientwillnotbepleasedathavinganotherhouseofexactly
the same design in the area. Unless the original client contracted on the basis that an exclus-
ive licence to build the house would be provided, there is nothing to be done. However, an
architect who grants an exclusive licence cannot (as the name implies) grant another licence
to another person for the same design.
Therefore, provided that the architect has not previously granted an exclusive licence to
construct a house from the drawings, the architect can certainly sell the drawings again to
anotherclient.Inpractice, thearchitect willhavetocarryoutsomechangestothedrawings.
The title blocks must be changed to refer to the new client and site. It is likely that various
minor changes will be necessary to ensure that the building sits properly on the new site.
Moreover, a new site plan and probably foundation plans must be prepared. The architect
is entitled to charge full fees for these drawings. The fact is that the architect is entitled to
charge whatever the client is prepared to pay. Like any other transaction, the fee will be de-
termined not by reference to whether the drawings are copies of earlier drawings, but by
whether the client will pay the fee.
