Infringement Of Architectural Works

Analyzing for the first time a copyright suit under the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act (AWCPA), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed the district court’s summary judgment against the plaintiff, finding tryable issues of fact. T-Peg, Inc., v. Vermont Timber Works, Inc., Case No. 05-2866 (1st Cir., Aug. 18, 2006) (Lynch, J.).

The plaintiff filed a copyright infringement suit under the AWCPA against the defendants, including Vermont Timber Works (VTW) and a property owner who hired T-Peg to provide architectural designs and a construction material package for a timber frame house. The property owner terminated its relationship with T-Peg after having seen T-Peg’s architectural plans and then hired VTW for construction of a timber frame house with elements similar to T-Peg’s design. Based on its comparison of the relative architectural designs, the district court granted a summary judgment for the defendants, finding the no reasonable jury could conclude