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Intellectual Property & Technology

Basics of Copyright Registration for Designs of Buildings

An original design for a building embodied in any tangible medium of expression, including a structure, architectural plan, or drawing is subject to copyright protection as an "architectural work." The work includes the overall form as well as the arrangement and composition of spaces and elements in the design, but does not include individual standard framing or design elements that are functionally required. A claim to copyright in an architectural work is distinct from a claim in technical drawings for the work. Separate applications are required for both.

The following information is required for a copyright application for an architectural work:

1. Title, month, and year when construction of the building was completed;
   
2. Author (in the case of a work created by an employee, the company is the author);
   
3. Creation date (year in which the architectural work was embodied in plans, drawings, or models); and
   
4. Publication date (year in which underlying plans, drawings, or other copies of the building design were distributed or made available to the general public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending. Construction is not publication unless multiple copies are constructed).

In addition to the application, a copy of the work must be submitted. For architectural works, one complete copy of an architectural drawing or blueprint in visually perceptible form showing the overall form of the building and any interior arrangement of spaces and/or design elements in which copyright is claimed must be submitted. The deposit for a building that has been constructed must also include identifying material in the form of photographs that clearly disclose the architectural work being registered. The Copyright Office prefers that the deposit disclose the name of the architect and draftspersons and the building site.

Where the copyright claimant is seeking registration for both an architectural work and for the same work's technical drawings, the deposit of a single technical drawing will suffice for both claims if the applications are submitted together.