Rarely do copyright issues in the design community result from conscious discernment or deliberate acts. more likely, a client provides the design professional with a complete set of drawings to reference as a starting point for design. the design professional does not look for or notice a copyright mark anywhere on the drawings, and does not even consider the potential that the plans are copyrighted drawings which could set off a copyright confrontation. or even if copyright is taken into consideration, the design
professional may assume the client’s ownership of the documents, or simply emphasize the value of accomplishing the project and impressing the new client over pursuit of the matter. the bottom line is that copyright infringement does not get the earnest consideration as a legal risk that it should, and most design professional instead take a chance and operate on the theory that nothing will ever come of it.

Architectural drawings are without a doubt copyrighted material; no matter whether there is a copyright stamp or not. whereas the origin of the plans may not be apparent, one detail is clear: if the work is not of your original
design and you work off them, you may well be positioning yourself for a copyright infringement claim in federal court.