Copyright: Architectural Drawings

Information provided in our guide can often be confusing and hard to interpret. If ever in doubt contact Marcia Steeves the College's Academic Integrity and Copyright Officer.

Architectural works (meaning buildings or structures or any model of a building or structure) are copyrightable under the category of "artistic works" in Canadian Copyright law. This includes the buildings/objects themselves along with any relevant, drawings, sketches, or blue prints.

There is not an artistic requirement for architectural drawings to attain copyright status, simply the work must be original in its creation and the potential exists that multiple architects hold copyright in similar drawings if created independently of each other. Its important to note that functional aspects of architectural drawings are not covered by copyright but may be protected under patents, another form of intellectual property rights.

"Architectural drawing of a Portable Provisional School, c 1905" by Queensland State Archives is licensed under CC PDM 1.0