Who Owns The Design?
Who Owns The Design?
(OP)
We design a piece of equipment to meet a customer's specifications.
We use our knowledge and experience to offer the best possible solution.
By paying us to design and build the equipment does the customer also buy the drawings (ie the design)?
We use our knowledge and experience to offer the best possible solution.
By paying us to design and build the equipment does the customer also buy the drawings (ie the design)?





RE: Who Owns The Design?
Kyle Chandler
www.chiefengineering.net
RE: Who Owns The Design?
David
RE: Who Owns The Design?
RE: Who Owns The Design?
While you might "design a piece of equipment to meet a customer's specifications," if that's simply by modifying an existing design or template, then there my never be any question of ownership. If, however, this is a brand-new design, heretofore never built by your company, your customer might have a stronger case.
TTFN
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Who Owns The Design?
RE: Who Owns The Design?
RE: Who Owns The Design?
Without prior documented agreements - - - - - - -
Could You have designed the apparatus as specified by the customer without preparing drawings?
Could You have made the drawings to build the apparatus as specified by the customer, without preparing a design?
Would You have designed and built the apparatus as specified by the customer without payment by the customer?
Remember the many cases won by Edison against the big company "brain tanks."
At 74th year working on IR-One2 PhD from UHK - - -
RE: Who Owns The Design?
RE: Who Owns The Design?
Alsoin such case, the customer may own the drawings, but should not be able (legally) use it to reproduce the same equipment by himself or through others without original designer. (as long as it is in the contract)
If the spec contains details as to how to build the equipment, the client may have some rights on the design.
RE: Who Owns The Design?
That's insufficient to determine ownership. If the customer paid the company to innovate the design, then the customer owns the design. If the customer paid to simply repackage an existing design, the degree of ownership is substantially less.
Ultimately, it still boils down to what is in the contract. If the contract doesn't say, then shame on seller's contracting officier, whose very job is supposed to ensure that the company is fully recompensed for all work and intellectual property.
TTFN
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Who Owns The Design?
Specifying a product performance is no where close to partnering in innovation and research. They are two different things.
RE: Who Owns The Design?
A machine shop, hired for machine work ability, demanded their name be put down as Inventor because they converted my sketches by CAD, with a minor change to facilitate material availability and their in-training labor force.
Being stubborn and inpatient, caused me to quit fabrication of a prototype for a potentially useful apparatus.
At 74th year working on IR-One2 PhD from UHK - - -
RE: Who Owns The Design?
Greg Robinson
RE: Who Owns The Design?
No question, the need for Architects and Structural Engineers are a definite needed and useful profession.
But, most any experienced "Layout Surveyor" will confirm that those trying to set construction lines from typical Architect drawings, find needed dimensions missing. In many cases, this is also true of a drawings made by engineering disciplines. Most usually will get terribly up set when a Surveyor asks for a them to dimension the missing segments on their drawing. (Personally, have never had a "Civil PE" hesitate to make the appropriate editing.)
A surveyor using a scale in the field, becomes directly responsible for the scaled distance being correct, without having a way to prove the scaled measurement is correct, or even if the drawing itself was accurately proportioned originally.
Referencing the "Ownership" question, an Inventor always has a problem relinquishing ownership of an original idea.
Many "ideas" never get off the ground because a new original idea needs to be professionally drawn on paper for actual proto-type fabrication. Preferably in a structural sound arrangement, of materials correctly dimensioned by an Engineer that was hired to do the work.
At 74th year working on IR-One2 PhD from UHK - - -