Copyright of Architectural Records: A Legal Perspective

As more archivists become concerned with the acquisition and preservation of architect's drawings, they need to be aware of the issues surrounding the copyright of these materials. Because of their unique nature, these records inherently possess special problems under copyright law, which have been defined and litigated in statute and in the courts of the United States for more than a century. A summary of relevant cases and copyright laws reveals the issues and special problems that architects' records have presented to those concerned with deciding their ownership, and the potential impact of these for archivists.