Opinion ID: 771186
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Election of Protection

Text: 73 The AWCPA's legislative history reflects Congress' express desire that the extension of copyright protection to buildings as constructed not affect an author's pre-AWCPA ability to obtain copyright protection for architectural blueprint plans, drawings and models. See H.R. R EP. NO. 101-735, at 19 (Protection for architectural plans, drawings, and models as pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works under section 102(a)(5), title 17, United States Code, is unaffected by this bill.). In addition, Congress specifically stated that an architect should be able to elect both forms of protection concurrently: 74 The bill's intention is to keep these two forms of protection separate. An individual creating an architectural work by depicting that work in plans or drawing [sic] will have two separate copyrights, one in the architectural work (section 102(a)(8)), the other in the plans or drawings (section 102(a)(5)). Either or both of these copyrights may be infringed and eligible separately for damages. [I]n cases where it is found that both the architectural work and the plans have been infringed, courts or juries may reduce an award of damages as necessary to avoid double remuneration, but the basic concept of elec tion of protection[fn 41] is important and must be preserved. 75 Id. (emphasis added). Of course, if the architect elects coverage under section 102(a)(8), then section 120(a) applies to limit the scope of the architect's exclusive rights in his copyright -if the building is in a publicly visible place, he cannotprevent others from creating two-dimensional reproductions of the building. 76 Footnote 41 in the above quoted passage addresses the situation where there is an artistic work incorporated into a building. In my view, this cryptic and ambiguous footnote can reasonably be read to support the notion that the AWCPA did not alter the availability of separate protection of PGS works attached to buildings: 77 The Subcommittee was aware that certain works of authorship which may separately qualify for protec tion as pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works may be permanently embodied in architectural works. Stained glass windows are one such example. Elec tion is inappropriate in any case where the copyright owner of a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work embodied in an architectural work is different from the copyright owner of the architectural work. 78 Id. at 19 n.41. Congress' use of the present tense in the first sentence -may separately qualify -is evidence that separate copyright protection for PGS works that are part of architectural works remains available. If there is a conceptually separable section 102(a)(5) PGS work permanently embodied in a section 102(a)(8) architectural work, the architect can elect protection under either or both sections provided he owns the copyright interest in the PGS work. If a separate artist created the PGS work (and has not assigned the copyright to the architect), 7 the architect is limited to a copyright in the building as constructed and a copyright in the blueprint plans, whereas the artist retains a copyright in the PGS work. 8 The scope of the architect's copyright in the building, of course, is limited by section 120(a). Because section 120(a) only applies to limit the scope of rights of a copyright in an architectural work, however, it has no effect on the artist's copyright in his PGS work. As Professor Ginsburg has stated, if a building contains elements separately protectable as pictorial, graphic or sculptural works (for example, a gargoyle), the unauthorized pictorial representation of that element may be an infringement of the pictorial, graphic or sculptural work (not of the work of architecture). Ginsburg, supra at 995. The artist's PGS copyright is still limited by the fair use doctrine of section 107, though, which will protect the average tourist from infringement liability but will prevent most unauthorized commercial exploitations of images of the work. 79 This reading of the legislative history is consistent with the rationale underlying Congress' explicit decision to provide a blanket photograph exemption -section 120(a) -rather than relying on the fair use doctrine. See H.R. REP. NO. 101735, at 22. As the House Report accompanying the AWCPA noted: 80 Millions of people visit our cities every year and take back home photographs, posters, and other pictorial representations of prominent works of architecture as a memory of their trip. Additionally, numerous scholarly books on architecture are based on the ability to use photographs of architectural works. These uses do not interfere with the normal exploitation of architectural works. Given the important public purpose served by these uses and the lack of harm to the copyright owner's market, the Committee chose to provide an exemption, rather than rely on the doctrine of fair use, which requires ad hoc determinations. 81 Id. Congress was aware of the commercial market for posters and postcards of famous or interesting buildings, and it did not want its extension of copyright protection to constructed architectural works to affect that market. But Congress did not address the commercial market for posters and postcards of specific, copyrighted PGS works that are embedded in, or in some other way a part of, a building. 9 Entrepreneurs desiring to sell postcards that featured a building's attached artwork always needed to obtain a license from the PGS artist or risk a copyright infringement suit. In this way, the PGS artists were in a position to control the commercial exploitation of two-dimensional reproductions of their independent, creative contribution to a larger work. I interpret the absence of explicit congressional intent to eliminate that ability to be further evidence that the AWCPA was not intended to affect the separate copyright ability of PGS works incorporated into buildings.