The London Skyline - An IP View

The famous London skyline is constantly evolving with new buildings such as The Shard, "The Walkie Talkie" and "The Cheesegrater" adding to the more traditional sights of St Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Whilst gazing out of the window of our Riverbank House offices, we ask ourselves what IP rights protect these familiar London icons? 

COPYRIGHT

The first IP right to consider is copyright. In the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ("CDPA"), copyright may subsist in works of architecture, which include "buildings" or "models for buildings". In turn, a building is defined as including any fixed structure and a part of a building or fixed structure. In the UK, there is no need for formal registration. Copyright therefore arises automatically, provided that the work is original, recorded and the result of some effort (all of which have fairly low thresholds). Because buildings and models of buildings are considered to be artistic