The question first
Can a homebuilder sell its project records to AI?
Updated
Yes for the record the builder made itself, no for a design it only licensed, and only after the homeowners' details are out.
The records a builder made
17 U.S.C. 201 says copyright in a work vests initially in its author, and for a work made for hire the employer is considered the author. Schedules, change orders, warranty notes and site photos your own staff produced in the course of their work start out as the builder's.
Plans the builder bought
A plan is an architectural work under 17 U.S.C. 101, and the designer's exclusive rights under section 106 include reproducing it and preparing derivative works. A purchase moves those rights only with a signed writing (section 204), so a licensed plan set, and the drawings inside the job files that copy it, are not the builder's to license.
One thing a builder may do without the designer: 17 U.S.C. 120(b) lets the owners of a building alter or destroy it without the consent of the author or copyright owner of the architectural work. That covers the house, not the drawings.
What the software terms add
- Projul
- Its terms say the customer retains all right, title and ownership interest in its data, with 30 days to download after the subscription ends.
- Procore
- Calls customer content Content that you own or have the right to provide, and keeps the right to process usage data derived from the service.
- JobTread
- Its privacy policy reserves aggregated data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose.
Source: Builder software terms on project data
On ownership, 6 of the 12 vendors read say nothing in the documents we hold. Whether plans count as protected at all is on are house plans copyrighted.