Smith v. Paul

174 Cal. App. 2d 744
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 27, 1959
DocketCiv. No. 18372
StatusPublished

This text of 174 Cal. App. 2d 744 (Smith v. Paul) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Paul, 174 Cal. App. 2d 744 (Cal. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

174 Cal.App.2d 744 (1959)

ERNEST MANFRED SMITH, Appellant,
v.
DAVID A. PAUL et al., Respondents.

Civ. No. 18372.

California Court of Appeals. First Dist., Div. One.

Oct. 27, 1959.

Maynard Garrison, Jr., and Wallace, Garrison, Norton & Ray for Appellant.

Albert E. Gately, Gately & Gately and Robert H. Andresen for Respondents.

BRAY, P. J.

Plaintiff appeals on the judgment roll alone from a judgment in favor of defendants.

Questions Presented

1. Does a designer have a common-law copyright in plans for a house prepared by him?

2. Does the filing of the plans in a county office as required by law to obtain a building permit constitute a publication divesting plaintiff of his common-law copyright?

(This is a case of first impression in California.) *746

Facts

Plaintiff, although not a licensed architect, is engaged in the business of designing homes. In his complaint he alleged that defendants were constructing a house, using, without his consent, plans and specifications created and designed by him, the reasonable value of the use of which is $3,500. [fn. 1]

The court entered a minute order giving judgment for defendants, and stating: "... defendants to prepare findings, consistent with the view that while there was a fiduciary relationship and a common law copyright, and the plans were 'copies,' and there was responsibility on the both defendants for copying them, the plans had been published, and also there was no resultant damage or profit." The court found that defendant Paul "copied said plans ... for the construction of the residence for defendant Peter Pederson with the knowledge of said defendant that the Carr house was being substantially duplicated."

1. Common-Law Copyright.

Section 980, Civil Code, provides:

"(a) The author or proprietor of any composition in letters or art has an exclusive ownership in the representation or expression thereof as against all persons except one who originally and independently creates the same or a similar composition."

"(b) The inventor or proprietor of any invention or design, with or without delineation, or other graphical representation, has an exclusive ownership therein, and in the representation or expression thereof, which continues so long as the invention or design and the representations or expressions thereof made by him remain in his possession."

[1] This section has been said to accept the traditional theory of protectible property under common-law copyright. (Weitzenkorn v. Lesser (1953), 40 Cal.2d 778, 789 [256 P.2d 947]; Heckenkamp v. ZIV Television Programs, Inc. (1958), 157 Cal.App.2d 293, 300 [321 P.2d 137]; 31 Cal.Jur.2d 702, 4.) While there does not appear to be any California authority *747 holding that a common-law copyright would apply to architectural designs, plans and specifications, there is authority to that effect in other jurisdictions. (Kurfiss v. Cowherd (1938), 233 Mo.App. 397 [121 S.W.2d 282]; Wright v. Eisle (1903), 86 App.Div. 356 [83 N.Y.S. 887].)

Defendants rely upon a statement in 3 American Jurisprudence at page 1003: "With respect to the idea itself, however, where it is not protected by patent or copyright, it has been said that there is no intrinsic property in the architect's design or any exclusive right in the design or in the reproduction."

An examination of the case upon which this statement is based, Mackay v. Benjamin Franklin Realty & Holding Co., 288 Pa. 207 [135 A. 613, 50 A.L.R 1164], demonstrates that the statement is too broad, as the court merely held that where a property owner employs an architect to design a building for him, and the architect, unbeknownst to his employer, appropriates an idea from another architect's plans, the employer is not liable "for something so entirely intangible as an idea, not connected with physical property." (50 A.L.R. 1166.) The opinion then states: "Doubtless trover might be maintained for the actual conversion of plans" but not against the employer who had no knowledge of the architect's acts. Whatever the interpretation of the decision in the Mackay case, section 980 of our Civil Code provides, in effect, that a designer's plans are his literary property, limited, however, to as long as the plans "remain in his possession." [2] We see no reason why architectural plans do not come within the provisions of section 980, Civil Code, particularly subdivision (b). We therefore hold that such plans are protectible property under common-law copyright.

2. Publication.

Publication of the plans would end the property right. (Civ. Code, 983.) Plaintiff contends that as the filing of the plans was required by a Marin County ordinance in order to obtain a building permit, such filing was not voluntary and could not constitute a publication which would deprive the designer of his property right. In his contract with the Carrs, plaintiff retained ownership of the plans with the Carrs to have the exclusive use thereof. Defendants contend and the court found that the construction and maintenance of the house in full public view also constitutes a publication.

The nearest approach in California to the questions involved *748 here is in Weinstock, Lubin & Co. v. Marks (1895), 109 Cal. 529 [42 P. 142, 50 Am.St. Rep. 57, 30 L.R.A. 182]. There the plaintiff maintained a wearing apparel store designated "Mechanics' Store" in a building erected by it in 1891 "the front of which is of peculiar architecture, containing arches and alcoves, of which there was none other similar in the city of Sacramento." (P. 534.) The defendant erected a building adjoining, which so far as the first or lower story was concerned was similar in all respects to that of the plaintiff. The defendant there maintained a store which he named "Mechanical Store." The court found that the "erection of the defendant's building exactly the same as plaintiff's building in every particular, and the adoption of the use of the words 'Mechanical Store,' and the absence of any name or sign upon or in defendant's store designating the true proprietorship of defendant's store" (pp. 534-535) were all done to deceive the public and to pirate the plaintiff's customers. The trial court, in an injunction proceeding, ordered the defendant to place, both outside and inside of his store, a sign legible to customers and passersby, indicating his proprietorship. On appeal the court treated the defendant's conduct as a fraud upon the public and the plaintiff, but felt that the order was too strict in requiring the defendant to show his proprietorship. It modified the order to require that the defendant "in the conduct of this business shall distinguish his place of business from that in which the plaintiff is carrying on his business in some mode or form that shall be a sufficient indication to the public that it is a different place of business from that of the plaintiff." (P. 543.) In discussing the decree which should be entered the court said, among other things, "How may the court reach the wrong? The defendant had the right to erect his building and erect it in any style of architecture his fancy might dictate." (P. 543.)

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Bluebook (online)
174 Cal. App. 2d 744, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-paul-calctapp-1959.