• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.24-30
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• 2016

Building Information Modeling, and its associated work practices, requires project participants to share not only 3D geometric data, but also information in the model that may be considered proprietary and even trade secrets. Thus protection of intellectual property, or BIM copyrights, must be in place for participants to share proprietary information among project stakeholders. Currently Korea does not have adequate copyright laws or mechanisms to provide such protection. This research examined three BIM copyright legal documents, namely U.S.' ConsensusDOCS 301, AIA Document E203/G202, and U.K.'s CIC BIM Protocol to determine how copyright protection is realized, and to formulate appropriate stipulations within the Korean construction context. The resultant requirements include stipulating ownership at to the BIM originator, adopting a license-sublicense scheme, employing a federated model, and use of a formal model delivey table to allocate responsibilities. Given Korea's adoption stage, liability should be minimal, and license revocation should be allowed if payments are not met. The three BIM legal documents focus on practical measures that allow participants to customize requirements for individual projects, and such conventions should be emulated in Korea.