A Brief Sketch of Architectural Works Copyright with the United States Cases: Analysis based on Thomas Shine v. David M. Childs and Skidmore Owings & Merrill, LLP Case

These days the copyright plays a significant role in various fields of creative works and it has expanded dramatically into unprecedented ways. In Korea, architectural works copyright cases are rare due to the lack of information and understanding of the architectural works copyright. Architectural works copyright can promote architects' creative activities and enhance the quality of architectural works as art. Nevertheless, there is little effort to advance the studies of architectural works copyright in the architectural design area. Under these circumstances, this research attempts to share the basic case laws and remedies for various architectural works copyright issues in the U.S. cases. This Article examines the Thomas Shine v. David M. Childs and Skidmore Owings & Merrill, LLP Case which is the most recent case as I could reach. This case is about a story between two architects, one is from a very prestigious architectural design firm and the other, once Yale Architectural student, now practices his design work as an up-and-coming architect. A close examination of this case will provide a legal and architectural spectrum of copyright. That is, it will make it more specific how to solve the copyright infringement. Artistic and technological contexts are overlapped in Architectural works copyright as its inherent characteristics. Therefore, different ways from other copyrighted works are needed to access the untangled equations of the architectural works copyright protection. In addition, more comprehensible and specific regulations that can impose a remedy more suited to the architectural works copyright violations are needed and they should enable architects to fulfill their architectural activities under wide range of copyright protection. Moreover, in prior to all efforts to handle those equations, fundamental knowledge of architectural works copyright is required to improve the copyright protection in the architectural design area as well as to provide for the globalizing design practice. Ultimately, all of these efforts will be rewarded when constant researches based on Korean and other countries' architectural copyright cases can support them and it would be great if this research can set the stage for resolving expected copyright conflicts within the architectural design area.