Guide to Using the RIBA Professional Services Contracts 2018 - Other - Page 59
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Guide to RIBA Professional Services Contracts 2018
Key questions
These are extracts from an article from the RIBA Journal by Darren Heath in
July 2017.
What if the Client sells the site?
If the Client has paid your fee up to that point you will have impliedly licensed
the use of the plans for all purposes in connection with the construction of that
building, on that site, in substantial accordance with your drawings whether by the
Client or by the purchasers of the plot, and by their consultants or contractors.
What if your plans are used by a third party who has not bought the land
from the Client?
The original Client obtained planning permission for the site but the subsequent
purchaser took the Architect’s plans from the planning authority’s website but
they were subject to a copyright notice and permission for limited uses. The
High Court found that the purchaser had infringed the copyright as there was no
implied licence as the purchaser had not bought the land from the original Client.
Therefore, no relationship existed between the Architect and the purchaser, so no
copyright was transferred as it can only be transferred by the original licensee.
If your Client sells the land to a third party, must you supply drawings
(including CAD drawings) to another Architect appointed by the third party?
The simple answer is NO! Ownership of the copyright is distinct from ownership of
the property in which the copyright subsists. So, if you own materials in which you
have licensed the copyright, there is no obligation to deliver the materials, that is
only a contractual right.
If the Client appoints another Architect, is the new Architect bound by
copyright?
In this case the original Architect was not paid for the drawings thus terminating
the copyright licence. Even though the Client instructed the new Architect to use
the drawings, the new Architect was infringing the original Architect’s copyright.
Any new Architect should check that the Client correctly holds the copyright and
confirm with the original Architect.
Registered designs
The terms of the RIBA Professional Services Contracts 2018 protect the Architect/
Consultant’s copyright in, for instance, furniture or fittings or other manufactured
items or products against the Client, called the ‘commissioner’, registering designs
under the Registered Designs Act 1949 or the Registered Designs Regulations
2001, which otherwise would not breach the Designer’s copyright without the written
consent of the Architect/Consultant.
Can the Architect/Consultant suspend copyright?
If at any time the Client is in default of payment of any fees or other amounts properly
due, the Architect/Consultant can suspend further use of the copyright licence
and any sub-licences for the information, drawings and documents to which the
unpaid monies relate on giving 7 days’ notice of the intention to do so. Use of the
licence would be resumed when the outstanding amounts have been paid by the
Client. However, this condition would not apply where the Client has issued a Pay
Less Notice. In contrast, if the Architect/Consultant has been paid for the work the
copyright cannot be suspended as the Client has a licence to copy.
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