copyright infringement

[jrsr]

What is the name of your state? Mississippi

I have found a house plan being used by a contractor which is virtally identical to my copyrighted plan. I think I can prove that he had access to my plan.
When I contacted him for payment for my plans, he contends that my copyright is not enforceable because there are many plans which are 90% (he used the word-virtually)identical to my plan which were copyrighted 10 years before I got my copyright. Do I stand a chance of getting any money? Is there a threshold of percentage that is allowed to be similar to another source and the copyright still be valid?

I would say that my plan is about 90% like those old plans he points out, but his plan is 98% like mine. Do I have any legal grounds for this lawsuit. I created my plan from scratch and did not copy the plans he has noted.

 

[divgradcurl]

If you have a registered copyright, and you can show infringement, then you can get statutory damages, injunctions, etc. If you do not have a registered copyright and you can show infringement, then all you can get is actual damages.

However, the tough part is showing infringement. Copyright gives you a certain set of rights -- but it doesn't protect you if someone else produces an identical or nearly identical work from scratch. If the other guy created his plans from scratch -- as you say you did -- and they coincidentally happen to be 98% identical, then copyright will not protect you. This seems pretty unlikely -- however, if there are older plans which are 90% identical your plans, or if 90% of your plans are somehow :standard" in the industry, and you both started from there, then maybe having the two of you be 98% identical isn't that far fetched.

Anyway, that's the hurdle. If you have proof that he had access to your plans prior to the creation of his plans, then that gives you a stronger case. You can check out Bright Tunes Music Copr. v. Harrisongs Music, LTD., 722 F.2d 988 (2d Cir. 1983), Ty, Inc. v. GMA Accessories, Inc., 132 F.3d 1167 (1997), and Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., 663 F. Supp. 706 (1987), for some case law on what is and is not copying that leads to infringement.

I am not a lawyer, and do not play one on TV.