Copying Blue Could Turn You Blue

The Eastern District of Virginia grants default judgment and damages to a plaintiff in a copyright case after plaintiff alleges copyright infringement of architectural blueprints. The complaint was filed in the Richmond district (Case Number 3:08cv723), by Donald A. Gardner Architects, Inc. (“Gardner”), a South Carolina architectural firm, against Bradley K. Price and NetCad Drafting Inc., (“NetCad”) a company located in Petersburg, Virginia. Gardner alleged that NetCad copied, published and distributed fourteen designs for single family homes, namely the Caroline, Beaufort, Thornberry II, Hawthorne, Irwin, Herndon, Baldwin, McBride, Carrington, Brighton, Keenan, Anniston, Southerland, and Edgewater, which were created and authored by Gardner.

NetCad’s failure to respond to the complaint convinced the Court to enter an order enjoining NetCad from publishing or selling houses built from any of Gardner’s residential designs. Judge Payne also awarded Gardner statutory damages in the amount of $56,360.00 along with attorney’s fees and costs in the amount of $7,537.09. This statutory amount was the amount that Gardner argued it would have obtained from NetCad’s license fees, doubled as a result of NetCad’s refusal to stop using the designs or answer the claims.