## Facts

- Nelson-Salabes, Inc. (NSI), an architectural firm, created architectural drawings and designs for an assisted-living facility project known as Satyr Hill in Baltimore County, Maryland.
- NSI’s drawings were submitted to the county as part of the approval process, and the project obtained county approvals based on those plans.
- NSI’s design included an overall three-story Y-shaped footprint and a front elevation featuring an octagonal entrance “silo,” bay windows, and gabled vertical protrusions intended to break up the building massing, along with brick siding on the first floor.
- After the approvals were obtained, Morningside acquired the project site and associated development rights, benefiting from the existing county approvals tied to NSI’s drawings.
- Morningside informed NSI that it would not continue as the project architect; NSI stated that its drawings could not be used if another architectural firm were retained.
- Morningside hired a new architectural firm and instructed it to make only minor revisions so the project could proceed without restarting the county approval process.
- The later plans retained the same overall Y-shaped configuration and substantially similar front-elevation features, including the octagonal entrance element, bay windows, gabled protrusions in closely corresponding locations, and brick on the first level.
- NSI sued Morningside Holdings, Morningside Development, and G. Neville Turner for copyright infringement based on alleged copying of the footprint and front exterior elevation.

## Issues

1. Whether NSI’s architectural drawings and building design contained original, protectable expression as an architectural work under the Copyright Act.
2. Whether defendants copied protected expression and whether the later plans and construction were substantially similar to NSI’s protectable elements.
3. What liability and remedies, including damages and permanent injunctive relief, were appropriate.

## Decision

- The court held that NSI’s architectural drawings and design were copyrightable and that defendants infringed by copying protectable elements of the footprint and front exterior elevation.
- The court found defendants had access to NSI’s designs through the approved development materials and that the similarities were not explained solely by functional constraints or standard design practices.
- The court entered judgment for NSI, awarding monetary relief and addressing NSI’s request for permanent injunctive relief.
- The court imposed liability against the Morningside entities and Turner for the infringement found at trial.

## Legal Principles

- Architectural drawings and the resulting building design may qualify as protected “architectural works,” but protection does not extend to general ideas, standard features, or purely functional constraints.
- Copyright protection may cover the original selection, coordination, and arrangement of architectural elements, including the overall configuration and façade composition.
- Infringement may be shown through access plus substantial similarity between the defendant’s work and the plaintiff’s protectable expression.
- Minor revisions to a design do not avoid infringement if the defendant retains substantially similar protectable elements of the original work.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that NSI owned protectable copyright in the original arrangement and composition of its Satyr Hill design and that defendants infringed by directing a replacement architect to preserve the approved footprint and front-elevation features with only limited changes, warranting judgment and monetary relief for NSI.


Nelson-Salabes, Inc. v. Morningside Holdings of Satyr Hill, LLC, No. B-98-2226, 2001 WL 419002 (D. Md. Feb. 16, 2001)