Are floor plans copyright protected and not allowed to be recreated and used to assist in the sale of real estate? The Supreme Court of the United States has denied a request to hear this case despite the National Association of Realtors recent filing of an amicus brief in an effort to protect American consumers from a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
NAR’s standpoint is that the Court’s ruling misrepresents federal law and would invalidate decades of legal precedent by allowing copyright infringement lawsuits to be filed against homeowners who make or display floor plans of their own homes.
“The U.S. housing market accounted for roughly 18% of our country’s GDP in 2020,” said NAR General Counsel Katie Johnson. “The Eighth Circuit’s decision not only puts countless consumers at risk of costly, burdensome litigation for making a floor plan of their own home, but it also strains a key sector of America’s economy and threatens a critical tool of transparency for potential home buyers.”
The brief reads:
“Many home buyers rely on floor plans in real estate listings to decide whether to purchase a residence, and their ability to secure financing for that transaction is often contingent on an appraisal that requires the creation of a floor plan.”
In addition, Congress specifically allowed for homeowners to create “pictures” or “other pictorial representations” of architectural works without fear of liability when crafting the Copyright Act of 1976.
NAR’s 2021 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends report found that roughly two-thirds of home buyers listed floor plans as “very useful” in the online home-buying process, ranking behind only “photos” and “detailed property information” as their most valuable resources.
SCOTUS declined to review the case, stating that the parties had not presented a compelling reason for review, and that the issue could potentially rise to the court through the appellate courts.
Lauren Bunting is a Broker with Keller Williams Realty of Delmarva in Ocean City, Maryland.
