Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani San Francisco partner Ben Patrick authored an article "Do Those Plans Infringe on My Plans? Depends Where You Are," published in the November 2020 edition of the Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal.
The article discusses copyright protections and infringement within the construction industry and summarizes how different federal court circuits have articulated the test for substantial similarity in construction designs. In further detail, Patrick examines the extrinsic/intrinsic test, the intended audience test, and the ordinary observer test in his analysis.
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Ben Patrick represents companies in the construction industry, including general contractors, engineers, architects, and sureties. He has represented companies varying in size from small contractors and design firms to ENR Top 50 Firms in mediations, litigations and arbitrations with claims ranging from under $100,000 to more than $300,000,000.
He is also recognized as a national expert and leading author on intellectual property rights in the construction industry. In 2004, he was counsel for the defendant architect in the largest construction copyright infringement lawsuit ever brought in the United States. Following three years of litigation and six weeks of trial, the jury returned a verdict finding no liability on the part of his client.
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