Question

Savant Homes, Inc., is a custom home designer and builder. Using what it called the Anders Plan, Savant built a model house in Windsor, Colorado. This was a ranch house with two bedrooms on one side and a master suite on the other, separated by a combined family room, dining room, and kitchen. Ron and Tammie Wagner toured the Savant house. The same month, the Wagners hired builder Douglas Collins and his firm, Douglas Consulting, to build a house for them. After it was built, Savant filed a lawsuit in a federal district court against Collins for copyright infringement, alleging that the builder had copied the Anders Plan in the design and construction of the Wagner house. Collins showed that the Anders Plan consisted of standard elements and standard arrangements of elements. In these circumstances, has infringement occurred? Explain.

Answer 1

Answer and Explanation:

There is no copyright infringement here. Savant homes had not taken a copyright protection for the design prior to this time. Also in the case it was found that the design is not in fact a unique design by Savant homes as it is used widely and was common before savant homes used it. And so it was a dummy model for everyone to copy from. Therefore the infringement was considered invalid as there was no ground for savant homes to claim it as am intellectual property