The statutes, quoted
Are house plans copyrighted? US and UK law for builders
Updated
In both countries a house design is protected, its first owner is the person who drew it or that person's employer, and ownership moves only in signed writing.
US law on a house design
17 U.S.C. 101 defines an architectural work as the design of a building as embodied in any tangible medium of expression, including a building, architectural plans, or drawings, and says it covers the overall form and the arrangement of spaces but not individual standard features. Section 102(a)(8) names architectural works among the protected categories.
The Copyright Office's Circular 41 repeats that definition and explains how a claim in an architectural work is registered.
UK law on a house design
Section 4 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 makes a work of architecture, a building or a model for a building, an artistic work. Section 11 says the author is the first owner, and where an employee makes the work in the course of employment the employer is the first owner, subject to any agreement to the contrary.
Why buying a set is not owning it
- 17 U.S.C. 204
- A transfer of copyright ownership is not valid unless it is in writing and signed by the owner or the owner's agent.
- CDPA 1988 s 90
- Assigning a builder's plan copyright needs a writing signed by or on behalf of whoever assigns it.
- CDPA 1988 s 16
- Copying a work and issuing copies to the public are acts only the copyright owner may do or authorise.
Source: The law on a builder's plans and records
So the drawings a builder may license are the ones its own people drew, or ones an architect assigned to it in a signed document. Which records buyers actually ask for is on who buys homebuilder data for AI.