Shine V SOM Proceeds

Back in fall 2004 when Thomas Shine sued SOM for copyright violations involving SOM's Freedom Tower design and Shine's 1999 student project at Yale, I said the case didn't have a chance. Well, looks like I was wrong, as The New York Times reports that,

A federal judge ruled yesterday that there were enough similarities between David M. Childs's 2003 design for the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site and a 1999 student architectural project that a lawsuit against Mr. Childs for copyright violation could proceed.

Given that the lawsuit doesn't deal with the current version of Freedom Tower (it was extensively redesigned after the NYPD and NYFD gave their two cents), it may not receive as much press when it goes to trial as if it did pertain to what will potentially be built at the WTC site. Regardless, the trial will be very important in what it says about the application of intellectual copyright to architectural designs.

Architectural works have been protected by the U.S Copyright office since December 1990. The governmental body defines architectural works as "the design of a building embodied in any tangible medium of expression, including a building, architectural plans, or drawings." That's fine, but judging if an architectural work copies a previous design, as in this case, is a very gray matter. Here it pertains to the diamond-shaped facade. The fact that David Childs sat on the jury for Shine's Olympic and '99 Towers, calling the latter "a very beautiful shape" doesn't help matters for SOM, especially when a jury hears that.

When and if this goes to trial, wouldn't it be great if it got the attention of, say, Michael Jackson's trial? Or the Runaway Bride? It's time for some architecture tube time!