Hi Andy,

In addition to obtaining legal advice about a copyright, it may be worth speaking to the council regarding the extent to which the development can be amended and then relodged as an “amendment” to the existing DA rather than as a whole new DA.

If you can find a balance between changing the design enough so as to not infringe copyright but not so much that the DA needs to start from scratch, you may be in luck.

It often depends on both the council and the person you speak to.

We’ve “redesigned” houses for people who come to us with a design which they like the design but don’t like the “look”. (Firstly we always recommend they work with their current arch/designer/bldr wherever possible as we don’t want to be in the middle of a bun-fight.) Some have involved staying with a very similar plan, but the look was changed so much that there is no chance that it could be construed as the same design.

As an architect I firmly believe in upholding the copyright laws, as they underpin my intellectual copyright. But, that should never mean you are stuck working with someone you don’t trust.

I guess the question is whether you have paid for the plans or not. What does the fine-print on the deposit documentation say? I suspect APG have covered their backsides completely. But on the off chance that you have actually paid for the plans you are free to use them on that site.

Cheers,

Kavan

Thanks Simon,

It all makes sense now! [suave2]

Kavan